Right, but this doesn't change that; in fact, increased rental stock probably increases affordability, both directly and in a bunch of knock-on ways involving zoning and variance decisions.
The article is about investment companies purchasing houses at a premium driving up the cost of ownership and renting. The article provides examples of this, not just speculation. People are seeing this happen in their communities, including my own, so I don't think it's enough to say "probably increases affordability". If you weren't able to read the article because of the paywall, see link below.
I've read the article (again) and I don't see it providing examples of these firms having a significant impact on rent; if I then go to one of the large firms they link to (Invitation Homes) and look at their rental stock in my area, it's not only broadly in line with what home rental prices are, but the numbers are roughly where they were 5 years ago, too.
This article is linked in the main article which talks about the rising rental rates. Invitation homes talked about in the article is owned by Blackrock.
That is incredible that your rental prices have remained roughly the same over the last 5 years. Invitation homes is also in my area (PNW) and yes, checking their website, their rates are in line with other rates in the area... except... these are rates which have grown 10% YOY for the past 8 years. It's the same story for the cost of homes. I sold my home this year for 50% more than what I paid for it exactly 4 years ago. Rent for homes in that neighborhood (identical homes) went from 1700 to 2700 (60%) in that same timeframe.
If anything, hopefully we can realize that we live in drastically different housing markets and that affects our opinions on the subject.
To my mind that backs his thesis. External factors are driving home prices in your area to increase and similarly not in his neighborhood. The existence of a blackrock investment isn’t casually linked to those prices (at least not in a simple form).
