How private equity is changing housing

PE buying real estate is a long bet on housing prices. If supply increases enough, prices flatten out and then fall, and the longs get crushed.

These investments are a bet on continuing to under-build and under-densify.

If they buy out all the supply, there will always be a shortage.

Sounds like trickle down housing to me.

Me: "should we stop allowing private equity to hold property?"

My Strawman: "nah let's build more houses to be snatched up by private equity, that way eventually maybe they'll be really nice and decide to lower prices for us someday due to the infallible balance of supply and demand that definitely hasn't been rigged to hell over the past half century. They certainly won't just continue to rig the system to benefit themselves"

So build so much they cannot rent all of it. Over supply will eventually drive down prices.

its a good bet on their part (although i hate it). we obviously can't increase supply fast enough to keep up with demand in the current regulatory climate and with an existing shortage of skilled tradesmen and ratio of tradesman retiring out vs newcomers entering construction, there doesn't seem to be a feasible way to meaningfully increase supply.

The area I live in has homes that remain empty because the investor doesn't need the capital nor the space and just holds empty units for multiple years when they eventually sell (for even more than they would have sold in the past).

Housing demand will always be > 0 as long as population is growing and hence there can never be a oversupply.

>to the infallible balance of supply and demand that definitely hasn't been rigged to hell over the past half century

How has "supply and demand" been "rigged"? A lack of supply isn't evidence of "supply and demand" being "rigged", it's it working exactly as predicted, not any different than oil prices going up when there's some geopolitical event threatening supply.

In areas where there is demand without risk.

who is going to do the building? Because PE is the one doing that too.

No, private equity appears to be a minority of home builders: https://www.builderonline.com/builder-100/builder-100-list/2...