1 in 7 Homes Sold Last Year Was Purchased by Wall Street (2024)

How long before they own everything?

1 in 7 Homes Sold Last Year Was Purchased by Wall Street (1)

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Surviving Tomorrow

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6 min read

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Feb 11, 2022

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1 in 7 Homes Sold Last Year Was Purchased by Wall Street (3)

I told you this would happen.

If you allow for-profit investment in residential real estate, it is mathematically inevitable that monopolists will eventually consume the entire sector.

And now that reality is starting to be borne out.

One in seven family homes sold this year is now owned by Wall Street.

1 in 7.

It’s even worse for starter-priced houses, which are purchased by investors at a rate of one in five.

It’s even worse for large apartment buildings — half of them are now owned by tax-evading private equity firms.

It’s even worse when vile iBuyers like Zillow get involved — in some neighborhoods, 70+% of houses are sold straight to institutional investors.

Can you fathom how dangerous this is?

On a street of fifty houses, banksters and land-lord-leeches own at least seven.

In a tower of 400 units, anti-human alien corporations own at least two hundred.

And they’re just getting started.

Corporate America’s dream for you is dead simple:

They want to be the literal lord of your life.

They want you permanently shackled in generational subscription serfdom.

Month after month, year after year, they want you to pay more money to rent the things you used to be able to own outright for less.

Houses.

Cars.

Mattresses.

Clothes.

It’s coming, my friends, and it’s coming fast.

This is what happens when you financialize an economy — when you turn everyday human necessities into tradeable, income-producing, securitized investments to be sold to the highest leveraged bidder.

Someone tweeted me the other day that real estate investment in the form of for-profit land-lording was good for local economies.

It’s not.

Here’s what I wrote back:

You really don’t understand how real estate works. Shelter speculation doesn’t “bring in cash.” Outsiders spending money at restaurants, cinemas, and amusem*nts parks brings in cash. Shelter speculation simply outbids local working money so it can install a hosepipe to siphon wealth out of that society for years to come. So the local economy loses twice: First because shelter prices skyrockets; second because wealth is drained out in the long-term.

Even Adam Smith, the king of capitalism, was against land-lorders. They are an unproductive drain on the productive economy, and they open a Pandora’s Box that allows bigger investors to slowly but surely outbid everyone on earth for owned homes.

We need to make it illegal to extract money from the contributor class via for-profit land-lording.

Empty houses, Airbnbs, second houses, rental houses… make them all illegal or tax them all out of existence. Homes should belong to active working contributors, not passive extractive leeches.

Right now, investors are sinking $85 billion into build-for-rent schemes — builders are developing hundreds of thousands of houses not to sell, but to rent-trap young families who’ve been priced out of purchasing.

If a tenant is forced to pay your mortgage, it means they will never be able to afford to pay their own. Renters are some of the poorest people in society, and it’s impossible to think they can ever jump the gap and somehow magically save two mortgage payments every month.

Because investors are bidding up house prices, and Airbnb is scything away family homes by the millions, the situation for renters has turned from dire to flat-out desperate.

It’s making my thesis clearer and clearer by the day:

People don’t rent because they’re broke — they’re broke because they rent.

Many centuries ago, before all the land in Wales was privatized, a family could find any piece of unclaimed land, and if they built a house and had smoke coming up the chimney by sunrise, this entitled them to throw an ax and claim all the land within its circumference.

Today, young workers face a game of monopoly where all the properties are already purchased and already have hotels on them. They’re simply doomed to rent-slave forever.

Think about the time-theft we’re all now enduring:

  • When all land was common land, a family could gather wood and stone and build a house in <500 hours.
  • Boomers could pay off their house in <5,000 hours of work.
  • Gen Z will pay banksters 50,000+ hours to rid themselves of a mortgage.
  • As for renters, they just get to pay every single month until the day they die.

Considering all land was once common, and now we’re stuck in a game of monopoly, I believe we need to enshrine affordable homeownership as a human right.

To get there, we’ll need to drastically increase supply and build millions of homes, but we’ll also need to drastically decrease demand — by driving land-lorders and for-profit investors out of residential real estate once and for all.

I’m telling you, friends, this is the only way out.

It shouldn’t surprise us that corporations are taking over the real estate market.

We already know that billionaires will control the entire globe’s resources within our lifetime.

There are real collective actions we can take to avert this crisis, but frankly, self-centered homeowners are loving all this free net worth growth, not realizing it’s already biting them in the a$$ and is going to destroy society.

  1. If you are a land-lorder or you own more than one house, do the right thing and sell it to an owner-occupied working family immediately. Take a big shave on the sale price, too. I know several people who have, in the past year, accepted less than “market value” — because the market is a fraud, and it’s far better for a community to have another family instead of another Airbnb. (And let’s be honest, you’ll still be making a killing thanks to inflation — which is just stealing from the poorest people in society.)
  2. If you know anyone who is a land-lorder or has a full-time Airbnb or works at a bank or in politics or investments, invite them over for a meal and have a heart-to-heart about the trajectory of our shared society. Help them see their role in this crisis, and inspire them to use their position of power to make a difference.
  3. Email your current (s)elected politicians. Demand they ban Airbnb, for-profit land-lording, and institutional investment in residential real estate. Get everyone you know to do the same. And bearing in mind that they only listen to money, threaten to bankroll opposition candidates if they don’t permanently fix the unaffordability crisis.
  4. If you’re an American who votes for Democrats/Republicans, a Canadian who votes for Liberals/Conservatives, or a Brit who votes for Conservatives/Labour… please stop. Stop voting for corporate-captured politicians who have proven they do not care about affordable homeownership for all. Vote, support, volunteer, and fund servant-hearted leaders to make affordable permanent shelter a human right, and start the necessary (and inevitable) process of de-financializing human necessities.
  5. If you’re wealthy, or generous, or a killer fundraiser, or have tons of friends, buy pieces of land and start building affordable owner-occupier-only villages. We’re going to need millions of these if we’re to stave off the growing homelessness crisis.
  6. Stop spending money at any company that lobbies governments, evades taxation, practices subscription serfdom, underpays its workers, undermines democracy, or buys residential real estate.
    In other words: Shop less, shop local.

Oh, and one more thing: Tell everyone you know to do the same.

Corporations are already buying up one in seven houses.

If we don’t do something now, pretty soon, they’ll own them all.

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1 in 7 Homes Sold Last Year Was Purchased by Wall Street (2024)

FAQs

Is 1 out of 7 homes owned by Wall Street investors? ›

If you allow for-profit investment in residential real estate, it is mathematically inevitable that monopolists will eventually consume the entire sector. And now that reality is starting to be borne out. One in seven family homes sold this year is now owned by Wall Street. 1 in 7.

What percentage of homes are bought by Wall Street investors? ›

Investors comprised 18% of purchases at the end of 2021. This was the highest level of investor presence since record-keeping on investor purchases began in 2000. Homebuyers' biggest enemy during 2021's breakneck price gains was the institutional investor, flush with cash, snatching up SFRs from under their noses.

Why is Wall Street buying all the homes? ›

It makes sense that the Pandemic Housing Boom saw a flood of institutional homebuying. Low interest rates, easy access to capital, soaring rents, and skyrocketing home values were just too good a deal for Wall Street types like Blackstone and iBuyer players like Opendoor Technologies to pass on.

How many houses were bought by investors? ›

According to data reported by the PEW Trust and originally gathered by CoreLogic, as of 2022, investment companies own about one fourth of all single-family homes. Last year, investor purchases accounted for 22% of American homes sold. This is significantly down from the 80% number in 2020-2021, why is this?

Why is BlackRock buying all the houses? ›

The company can build equity.

If the company has borrowed money to purchase the house, it can build equity over time, essentially increasing the percentage of the home it owns outright and can then borrow against later on.

Who owns the most houses in the US? ›

John Malone is the largest private landowner in the United States. Malone made his fortune as a media tycoon, building the company Tele-Communications, Inc, or TCI, and acting as its CEO before selling it to AT&T for $50 billion in 1999.

What are the most homes bought by investors? ›

Still, single-family homes remain the most popular property type among investors, representing 69.6% of investor purchases in the fourth quarter. Condos/co-ops came in second, at 17.7%, followed by townhouses (7.3%) and multi-family properties (5.3%).

Who owns the most single-family homes? ›

Invitation Homes is the largest single owner of single-family rental homes in the United States, managing more than 80,000 homes as of 2021.

Is Wall Street buying up homes? ›

Wall Street has purchased hundreds of thousands of single-family homes since the Great Recession. Here's what that means for rental prices. The rise of corporate landlords in the U.S.

Who are the biggest investors on Wall Street? ›

The list includes John Paulson, Warren Buffett, James Simons, Ray Dalio, Carl Icahn, and Dan Loeb. Buffett is by far the richest person of these six famous investors, with a net worth of $116 billion.

Are investors causing the housing shortage? ›

Many factors have influenced this unusual market, of course. But one that affects the housing shortage in particular is institutional real estate investment. Institutional investors purchased 13.2 percent of all properties sold in 2021, according to a 2022 report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Does the stock market beat the housing market? ›

There's no official correlation between stock market performance and housing prices. However, overall economic indicators that result from a stock market crash can often reverberate to the property market once stocks dip below 20%.

Who owns most of the houses? ›

The Largest Private Landowners in the United States
Person/FamilyLocations
1Emmerson FamilyCalifornia, Oregon, Washington
2John MaloneMaine, New Hampshire, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming
3Reed FamilyCalifornia, Oregon, Washington
4Ted TurnerKansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota
21 more rows

Who sold the most houses in the US? ›

Caballero has been the top-ranked real estate agent by REAL Trends for both total sales and number of transactions since 2013. Between 2004 and 2019, Caballero sold 36,827 new homes totaling $13.141 billion in volume.

How many houses can you buy at once as an investor? ›

The Bottom Line On Multiple Mortgages

Fannie Mae makes it possible for borrowers to conventionally finance anywhere from 4 –10 mortgages at the same time. This may be a great option if you're looking to take on a real estate investment strategy for multiple properties.

Who runs BlackRock real estate? ›

Laurence D. Fink is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock. He and seven partners founded BlackRock in 1988, and under his leadership, the firm has grown into a global leader in investment and technology solutions.

Is BlackRock buying all the houses? ›

Spokesperson Christopher Beattie said via email, “Contrary to some speculation and misperception, BlackRock does not purchase individual homes in the U.S.” He provided a statement the company circulated to address growing concern about its real estate goals.

Who owns most of BlackRock? ›

Who owns BlackRock? BlackRock is not owned by a single individual or company. Instead, its shares are owned by a large number of individual and institutional investors. The biggest institutional shareholders such as The Vanguard Group and State Street are merely custodians of the stock for their clients.

Who owns the richest house in America? ›

In 2019, hedge fund owner Ken Griffin logged the highest amount paid for a residence on record in the US, when he bought a penthouse for $238 million in the lauded limestone tower.

Who owns the biggest house in the world? ›

Who is the owner of the biggest house in the world ? Istana Nurul Iman Palace, the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, is the largest house in the world, spread over 2.15 million square feet.

Who owns most property in the world? ›

The Biggest Landowners in the World
RankNameLocations
1King Charles III and the British Royal FamilyUnited Kingdom, Canada
2Catholic ChurchWorldwide
3Inuit People of NunavutCanada
4Gina RinehartAustralia, United States
21 more rows

Are most millionaires real estate investors? ›

90% of all millionaires become so through owning real estate.” This famous quote from Andrew Carnegie, one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs of all time, is just as relevant today as it was more than a century ago. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world have built their wealth through real estate.

How much do most real estate investors make? ›

Real Estate Investor Salary in California
Annual SalaryHourly Wage
Top Earners$185,074$89
75th Percentile$146,884$71
Average$105,586$51
25th Percentile$78,338$38

Who is the number 1 investor? ›

Warren Buffett is often considered the world's best investor of modern times. Buffett started investing at a young age, and was influenced by Benjamin Graham's value investing philosophy.

What age owns the most homes? ›

Homeownership rates by generation

Younger millennials (23 to 31 years old) comprise only 18% of the share of homebuyers. 60% of older millennials (roughly 40-42 years old) own a home. At that age, 73% of the Silent Generation owned homes, 68% of Baby Boomers owned homes and 64% of Generation X owned homes.

What is the most expensive single-family home in USA? ›

1. The One, Los Angeles, California | Most Expensive Houses. The One, which took eight years to create, has surpassed all other pricey mansions in the US to claim the top rank. Nile Niami's modern masterpiece, this private mansion is situated on a five-acre site in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California.

What is the most expensive single-family home in America? ›

“The One” is the most expensive house in the US

Located in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, “The One” is on the market with a $295 million asking price. This 105,000-square-foot megamansion is the most expensive home ever.

Why Wall Street is snapping up family homes The Economist? ›

Inflation means the cost of renovating and maintaining homes is rising. Invitation Homes says the amount it spent on these things rose by nearly 8% in the second quarter of this year. Construction costs have also risen, posing risk for investors building from scratch.

Why do investors buy houses? ›

Real estate investors make money through rental income, any profits generated by property-dependent business activity, and appreciation. Real estate values tend to increase over time, and with a good investment, you can turn a profit when it's time to sell.

Who is the largest landlord in Los Angeles? ›

Brookfield Corp., parent of the largest office landlord in downtown Los Angeles, is defaulting on loans tied to two buildings rather than refinancing the debt as demand for space weakens in the center of the second-largest US city.

Who is the richest man in Wall Street? ›

Not just the richest but also the most popular investor in the world Warren Buffett started his investment journey well before he reached the age of 10.

What is the most money made from a stock? ›

Berkshire Hathaway holds the title for having the highest stock price—$445,000.

Who is the richest investor in USA? ›

Warren Edward Buffett (/ˈbʌfɪt/ BUF-it; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

What happens to housing when stock market crashes? ›

As prices become unsustainable and interest rates rise, purchasers withdraw. Borrowers are discouraged from taking out loans when interest rates rise. On the other side, house construction will be affected as well; costs will rise, and the market supply of housing will shrink as a result.

What are 5 reasons the housing market is not about to crash? ›

When will the housing market crash? Actually, economists do not think it will. Housing economists point to five main reasons that the market will not crash anytime soon: low inventory, lack of new-construction housing, large amounts of new buyers, strict lending standards and a drop in foreclosures.

Why do new real estate investors fail? ›

Unrealistic Expectation of Profit

Although real estate investment may be very lucrative, success doesn't happen overnight. Investors who rush into things or don't generate a lot of money right away rapidly get frustrated and overwhelmed. Building your portfolio and network takes time.

Which is better stocks or real estate? ›

Many investors buy real estate and stocks to build wealth over time. While both provide the potential for substantial profits, they differ in rates of return, risk, liquidity and accessibility. Returns. Historically, stocks have offered better returns than real estate investments.

Will houses be cheaper if the market crashes? ›

During a housing market crash, the value of a home decreases. You will find sellers that are eager to reduce their asking prices.

Do stocks or real estate have better returns? ›

Volatility. Although stock market returns generally outperform real estate investments by a significant amount over the long run, investors have to pay a price in the form of volatility. Whereas housing prices may decline by double digits in a terrible year, the stock market can decline by 10% in a matter of days.

Who owns most land in USA? ›

The 2022 Land Report 100, compiled each year by The Land Report magazine, released its annual list of landowners who own the most acres in the United States. The nation's largest private landowners are the Emmerson family in California who own over 2.4 million acres.

Do millionaires own their homes? ›

With rapid price appreciation between 2020 and 2022, we estimate that approximately 1.2 million California households are now home-equity millionaires. Who are these house-rich Californians? Most have paid off their mortgages. In 2020, 58% of the state's equity millionaires owned their homes free and clear.

How many houses does the average person own? ›

In fact, the average person will own at least three houses in their lifetime. Living in one place for most of your life may or may not be your goal, but if it is, there are things you must do as a homeowner to ensure your home lasts as long as you'd like it to.

Who is the richest real estate agent? ›

1. Donald Bren. Donald Bren began his career as a typical real estate agent, making his first investment in a real estate company that purchased over 90,000 acres of land.

What is the most valuable property in the US? ›

1. The One, Los Angeles, California | Most Expensive Houses. The One, which took eight years to create, has surpassed all other pricey mansions in the US to claim the top rank. Nile Niami's modern masterpiece, this private mansion is situated on a five-acre site in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California.

What is the biggest selling point of a house? ›

Here's a top 10 list of what's most important to potential homebuyers:
  • THE OUTSIDE. It's trite but true: You don't get a second chance to make a first impression. ...
  • LOCATION. Today's homes have to be conveniently located for homebuyers, agents say. ...
  • GARAGE. ...
  • KITCHEN. ...
  • MASTER BEDROOM. ...
  • BATHROOM. ...
  • STORAGE SPACE. ...
  • BAsem*nTS.
Mar 4, 2007

What is the 50% rule in real estate investing? ›

The 50% rule in real estate says that investors should expect a property's operating expenses to be roughly 50% of its gross income. This is useful for estimating potential cash flow from a rental property, but it's not always foolproof.

What is the 1 rule in real estate investing? ›

What Is The 1% Rule In Real Estate? The 1% rule of real estate investing measures the price of the investment property against the gross income it will generate. For a potential investment to pass the 1% rule, its monthly rent must be equal to or no less than 1% of the purchase price.

How much should an investor pay for a house? ›

Many investors use the 70% rule to identify whether your home will be a good investment for them. This rule states that they need to pay no more than 70% of what they can sell it for once they fix it up and sell it for a move-in ready full market price for an investment to be worth their while.

Who owns the majority of homes? ›

Among racial demographics, White Americans had the country's highest home-ownership rate, while African Americans had the lowest home-ownership rate. One study shows that home-ownership rates appear correlated with higher school attainment.

What percentage of US homes are owned by corporations? ›

Large institutions owned roughly 5% of the 14 million single-family rentals nationally in early 2022, according to analysts.

What company owns the most single-family homes? ›

What company owns the most single-family homes? Invitation Homes is the largest single owner of single-family rental homes in the United States, managing more than 80,000 homes as of 2021.

Why are investors buying up all the houses? ›

Investors piled into the housing market in 2021 due to rock-bottom mortgage rates and surging housing demand, and are now retreating amid projections that home prices have room to fall.

How many American own a house? ›

65.8% of Americans own a home as of 2022. Some 74 million Americans, or about 27%, live in a condo or HOA property. 58.4 percent of the housing units were owner-occupied. Renter-occupied units made up 30.9 percent of the housing inventory.

What celebrity owns the most real estate? ›

Jeff Bezos: 30K-acre ranch, one museum, too many homes to count. Former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos remains the richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $140 billion. He has spent millions of dollars amassing a massive real-estate portfolio across the US, from his home state of Washington to New York City.

Who is the largest single-family home owner in the US? ›

In October 2021, the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations surveyed the five largest owners of single-family rental homes in the U.S. The list includes Invitation Homes, American Homes 4 Rent, FirstKey Homes (owned by Cerberus Capital Management), Progress Residential (owned by Pretium Partners) and Amherst ...

What percentage of the US population owns their own home without a mortgage? ›

The country with the highest free-and-clear homeownership rate in the list above was Lithuania at 83%. In the U.S., the free-and-clear homeownership rate was 23%. If free-and-clear homeownership is the American Dream, then apparently Lithuania and many other countries are living the American Dream.

What percentage of US owns two homes? ›

How many homes are there in the United States? There are more than 110 million residences in the United States, including both households and vacant homes, which means that 2.39% of all residences in the United States are used solely as second homes.

Who has the richest individual house by in the world? ›

The world's most expensive private residence in the world, Antilia is owned by Mukesh Ambani, the richest person in India, and is named after a mythical island in the Atlantic.

Who owns the largest property in the world? ›

The Biggest Landowners in the World
RankNameLocations
1King Charles III and the British Royal FamilyUnited Kingdom, Canada
2Catholic ChurchWorldwide
3Inuit People of NunavutCanada
4Gina RinehartAustralia, United States
21 more rows

Is the Catholic Church the largest landowner in the world? ›

After gaining permission from the Vatican, Burhans underwent a comprehensive of bringing the Church into the 21st century. A live database provides a visual of all its land holdings. Conclusion: The Catholic Church owns the most land, far more than McDonald's and billionaire Bill Gates.

Who owns the most expensive property in the US? ›

In 2019, hedge fund owner Ken Griffin logged the highest amount paid for a residence on record in the US, when he bought a penthouse for $238 million in the lauded limestone tower.

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