Why is BlackRock Buying Up Single-Family Homes? A Look At the Hidden Truth — New Local Realty (2024)

In an article published in April of 2021, the Wall Street Journal took a deep look at the institutional investors, large-scale corporations hyperfocused on profits, actively purchasing residential real estate in major markets across the United States.

The backlash was quick and severe, but the backlash was strongest against BlackRock, the multinational investment management company.

The Wall Street Journal had only mentioned BlackRock in passing, but it was enough for people to turn against the entire organization and point the blame entirely at them. Newspapers and real estate websites picked up on the story, and they also began writing smear pieces about BlackRock.

Many people had the same question: Why is BlackRock buying up single-family homes?

The answer, it turns out, is a complicated one.

Why BlackRock Is Buying Up Single-Family Homes

The short answer: It’s not. In fact, the Wall Street Journal never actually pointed the finger at BlackRock. It was just a name that came up in the course of the article.

BlackRock became a scapegoat.

In the face of the public fallout following the article, BlackRock published a new page on its website explaining that it doesn’t engage in buying single-family homes.

According to that page, BlackRock is involved in:

  • Providing capital for mortgages

  • Providing capital for new housing construction

  • Other real estate investments, including multi-family properties, apartment complexes, and “other residential real estate”

BlackRock is very clear about its goals and responsibilities: The company is a fiduciary asset manager that invests and manages capital on behalf of its clients, but it does not buy individual homes.

Still, its involvement in the real estate industry isn’t exactly comforting. By being involved in multi-family housing, new construction, and even mortgages, BlackRock maintains a direct influence over the real estate industry and the ways families live.

Why Would It Matter If BlackRock Was Buying Single-Family Homes?

So, why were people upset at BlackRock after the Wall Street Journal was published?

Institutional investors buying up single-family homes across the US is ultimately bad for Americans. As we explained in our blog discussing why corporations are buying homes, corporate involvement in residential real estate squeezes families out of home-buying opportunities.

A few reasons:

  • Corporations have deeper pockets to make strong financial offers.

  • Corporations have greater resources to consistently identify and pursue new deals on the market.

  • Corporations can afford teams much larger and more sophisticated than a single real estate agent.

This is terrible news for families. In trying to compete against corporations with tons of cash, families will almost always be outbid by these companies.

For many, many years, buying and holding property has been one of the most reliable ways to move up the socioeconomic ladder. When you have property, you can build equity—a powerful force that can be leveraged for loans and other financial assets.

Put simply: Property creates generational wealth.

How Do Institutional Investors Make Money Off Single-Family Homes?

While homeownership is invaluable for families trying to build wealth, the circ*mstances are a little different when these giant investment companies purchase real estate. With many more resources at their fingertips, institutional investors stand to make much more money on their purchases than a family possibly could.

There are a few strategies these companies can leverage. They include:

1. 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.

2. They can turn the home into a rental property. In addition to building equity, the company can create a new income stream.

3. They can gain more control over the market. When a company owns multiple houses on a single block or in a single neighborhood, they have significant control over the residential real estate prices within their area, freeing them to artificially inflate property values for additional profit.

This is all bad for families. With fewer financial resources available, families are frequently overpowered by corporations hungry for more property.

Fortunately, there are ways to break the cycle.

How We’re Fighting Back

At New Local Realty, we’re focused on putting control back into the hands of the people.

In creating new strategies to rent and buy single-family homes, we’re helping families get back into homeownership.

Together, we’re fighting against institutional investors to ensure consumers have more influence than corporations.

To learn how we can help you, contact us! We’d love to tell you about our opportunities.

Why is BlackRock Buying Up Single-Family Homes? A Look At the Hidden Truth — New Local Realty (2024)

FAQs

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.

Does BlackRock own single-family homes? ›

Bottom Line: BlackRock is an active investor in the U.S. real estate market, but we are not among the institutional investors buying single-family homes.

How many single-family homes does BlackRock own? ›

BLACKROCK AND SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES

Invitation Homes, for example, has approximately 80,000 homes for lease across the country and is the largest landlord for single-family homes in the United States (here) (here).

What real estate company does BlackRock own? ›

Fintel reports that BlackRock has filed a 13G/A form with the SEC disclosing ownership of 4.48MM shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corp (ACRE).

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.

How much property does BlackRock own in the United States? ›

BlackRock owns around $60 billion in real estate assets. The value of the housing market in the United States is more like $36 trillion.

Who are the 7 owners of BlackRock? ›

BlackRock was founded in 1988 by Larry Fink, Robert S. Kapito, Susan Wagner, Barbara Novick, Ben Golub, Hugh Frater, Ralph Schlosstein, and Keith Anderson to provide institutional clients with asset management services from a risk management perspective.

Does BlackRock own American homes? ›

ownership in AMH / American Homes 4 Rent - Class A. 2023-02-01 - BlackRock Inc. has filed an SC 13G/A form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing ownership of 23,468,809 shares of American Homes 4 Rent - Class A (US:AMH). This represents 6.7 percent ownership of the company.

How much of Zillow does BlackRock own? ›

Top 10 Owners of Zillow Group Inc
StockholderStakeShares owned
BlackRock Fund Advisors3.90%6,648,830
Pacer Advisors, Inc.3.65%6,221,674
SSgA Funds Management, Inc.1.89%3,227,177
Eminence Capital LP1.86%3,169,605
6 more rows

Who is the biggest owner of BlackRock? ›

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.

What family owns BlackRock? ›

Reflects change since 5 pm ET of prior trading day. Larry Fink is the founder, CEO and chairman of powerhouse investment management firm BlackRock, one of the world's largest asset managers. He and seven partners founded BlackRock in 1988.

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.

Why is BlackRock so powerful? ›

BlackRock is a top shareholder across a wide range of global industries that include oil and gas, technology, retail, big banks, healthcare, weapons manufacturing, and much more. All this makes BlackRock one of the most powerful corporate actors on the planet, whose influence touches every aspect of our daily lives.

Who are the main owners of BlackRock? ›

Laurence D. Fink is the CEO and co-founder of BlackRock. Along with seven colleagues, he started the company. As of 31 January 2023, he owned 520,126 making him the biggest individual shareholder.

What does BlackRock not own? ›

While BlackRock does own non-voting shares in Fox Corporation, it doesn't have any in Dominion Voting Systems, both the investment firm and the voting machine company confirmed.

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.

What state has the most single family homes? ›

Only one state—New York—has a majority of its housing in the form of multi-family units, with only 46.6% single-family units. In contrast, more than half of all states have 70% or more single-family units, led by Indiana and Kansas at 78.5% apiece.

How many banks does BlackRock own? ›

As of 31 December 2020, the Official Institutions Group has $579bn in assets under management (AUM) on behalf of 109 clients globally. This includes: 45 Central Banks. 19 National Pension Funds.

Where does BlackRock get their money? ›

1 BlackRock derives the majority of its revenue from investment advisory and administrative fees charged to its clients. Among BlackRock's major competitors are The Vanguard Group, State Street Corp. (STT), and T. Rowe Price Group Inc.

How many homes did BlackRock buy? ›

Of those 15 million single-family rentals, institutional investors own about 300,000; most of the rest are owned by individual landlords. Of that 300,000, the real-estate rental company Invitation Homes—in which BlackRock is an investor—owns about 80,000.

What religion is the owner of BlackRock? ›

He grew up one of three children in a Jewish family in Van Nuys, California, where his mother Lila (1930-2012) was an English professor and his father Frederick (1925-2013) owned a shoe store.

Does China own BlackRock? ›

Learn more about the subscription offers. Already a subscriber? New York-based BlackRock is the first foreign-owned company allowed by Beijing to operate a wholly-owned business in China's burgeoning mutual fund industry.

Does BlackRock own Pfizer? ›

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Pfizer. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 8.9% of shares outstanding. With 7.8% and 5.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, BlackRock, Inc. and Capital Research and Management Company are the second and third largest shareholders.

How many single-family homes are there in the US? ›

In the United States, the majority of housing units are single-family houses – about 82 million out of the total 129 million occupied units in 2021. These homes are mostly owner-occupied, but a small share is rented.

What percentage of US homes are owned 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?

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 companies does BlackRock control? ›

Top 50 BlackRock Holdings
StockCompany Name% of Portfolio
AAPLApple Inc5.06%
MSFTMicrosoft Corp4.59%
AMZNAmazon Com Inc1.86%
NVDANvidia Corporation1.51%
49 more rows

What percentage of Google does BlackRock own? ›

Among other institutional holders, BLK owns about 7.68% of Alphabet's shares, according to CNN Money. The iShares Core S&P 500 Index (IVV) is BlackRock's largest ETF, holding an impressive $304 billion in assets under management.

How rich is the owner of BlackRock? ›

What is Larry Fink's Net Worth?
Larry Fink's Net Worth$1 billion
GenderMale
Height(5' 6'') 1.70m
Place of BirthVan Nuys, Los Angeles, CA
ProfessionCEO and Chairman of BlackRock
2 more rows
May 7, 2023

Does BlackRock own Amazon? ›

The top three individual shareholders include Jeff Bezos, Andrew Jassy, and Douglas Herrington. Amazon's top three institutional shareholders are Vanguard, Blackrock, and State Street.

What banks does BlackRock own? ›

BlackRock is also the sole shareholder and owner of shares in the four largest Australian banks. The company has hands-on everything. The German postal system, Commerzbank, and Deutsche Bank in Germany, followed by Lloyds Bank in the UK, and BlackRock is a stakeholder in all of them.

What is BlackRock known for? ›

BlackRock is one of the world's leading providers of investment, advisory and risk management solutions. We are a fiduciary to our clients. We're investing for the future on behalf of our clients, inspiring our employees, and supporting our local communities.

Is BlackRock owned by Rockefellers? ›

BlackRock, Inc. is owned by Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. for $76.56 million (NYSE:BLK)

Does BlackRock own Pepsi? ›

Fintel reports that BlackRock has filed a 13G/A form with the SEC disclosing ownership of 110.13MM shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP).

Who is bigger Vanguard or BlackRock? ›

BlackRock and Vanguard AUM is $8.6 & $8.1 trillion, respectively. In total, they both own/invested in 1,600 U.S. companies(Reuters:2022). BlackRock's secret weapon, an advanced trading algorithm called Aladdin(Asset, Liability, Debt and Derivative Investment Network) has been shaping global markets for decades.

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.

What family owns the most land in the US? ›

1. EMMERSON FAMILY. The nation's largest private landowners, California's Emmerson family, are a prime example of this trend. Through their Sierra Pacific Industries, the Emmersons increased their landholdings by more than 100 square miles to over 2.4 million acres.

What family owns the most real estate? ›

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.

Does BlackRock own Walmart? ›

BlackRock, Inc., holds 3.60% of Walmart shares, worth about $13.6 billion. BlackRock, Inc., is a multinational investment company in New York City. It is the largest asset manager in the world, with about $10 trillion worth of assets as of January 2022.

Does BlackRock own Tesla? ›

Elon Musk now owns less stock in Tesla, the EV maker he founded, than America's "Big Three" passive-investing funds have, the Financial Times has reported. The combined holdings of the index fund industry's three giants — BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street — make up a 13.58% stake in Tesla, it found.

Who is BlackRock biggest competitor? ›

BlackRock's competitors
  • BlackRock.
  • Charles Schwab.
  • Northern Trust.
  • Fidelity Investments.
  • State Street.
  • Vanguard.
  • Berkshire Hathaway.
  • Edward Jones.

Does BlackRock own Vanguard? ›

Here is a list of the top companies that are stockholders in BlackRock and their stake percentages: The Vanguard Group, Inc. - 8.1%

Is BlackRock public or private? ›

BlackRock, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager.

Does BlackRock own Disney? ›

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Walt Disney. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc. with 8.0% of shares outstanding. BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 6.6% of common stock, and State Street Global Advisors, Inc.

Who really owns Vanguard Group? ›

Vanguard isn't owned by shareholders. It's owned by the people who invest in our funds. Our owners have access to personalized financial advice, high-quality investments, retirement tools, and relevant market insights that help them build a future for those they love. That's the Value of Ownership.

How much of CNN is owned by BlackRock? ›

Together, BlackRock and Vanguard own 18% of Fox, 16% of CBS, 13% of Comast — which owns NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, and the Sky media group, 12% of CNN, and 12% of Disney — which owns a number of subsidiaries.

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.

What company does BlackRock own the most of? ›

BlackRock's top three holdings are Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). BLK owns $141 billion of AAPL stock, $120.8 billion of MSFT, and $65.8 billion of AMZN.

Who is really buying all the housing in Clark County? ›

Clark County-based Nylund Homes Inc. was responsible for the largest share of purchases, buying 23 homes since 2020.

What is the oldest house in Clark County? ›

The Covington House cabin, which is the oldest (domestic dwelling/home) privately built structure, is also the oldest school building in addition to it being the oldest boarding school built in Clark County, Washington.

What is the most expensive house in Clark County? ›

According to the Clark County Assessor's Office, the eight-bedroom property sold for $17.5 million, making it the most expensive home ever sold in Las Vegas. (The record was previously held by a home that sold in 2007 for almost $17.4 million.)

Which two cities are potential home buyers leaving LA for? ›

So, which cities are Angelenos now flocking to the most? Las Vegas and San Diego, according to Redfin data. As mortgage rates and home prices continue skyrocketing, nearly one-quarter of homebuyers nationwide looked to move to a different metro area, marking a record high, Redfin reported.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Edwin Metz

Last Updated:

Views: 6222

Rating: 4.8 / 5 (78 voted)

Reviews: 85% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Edwin Metz

Birthday: 1997-04-16

Address: 51593 Leanne Light, Kuphalmouth, DE 50012-5183

Phone: +639107620957

Job: Corporate Banking Technician

Hobby: Reading, scrapbook, role-playing games, Fishing, Fishing, Scuba diving, Beekeeping

Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.