Lawmakers say investors that scooped up hundreds of thousands of houses to rent out are driving up home prices

Wall Street went on a home-buying spree. Now, more lawmakers want to stop it from ever happening again.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate and House have sponsored legislation that would force large owners of single-family homes to sell houses to family buyers. A Republican’s bill in the Ohio state legislature aims to drive out institutional owners through heavy taxation.

Lawmakers in Nebraska, California, New York, Minnesota and North Carolina are among those proposing similar laws.

While homeowner associations for years have sought to stop investors from buying and renting out houses in their neighborhoods, the legislative proposals represent a new effort by elected officials to regulate Wall Street’s appetite for single-family homes.

These lawmakers say that investors that have scooped up hundreds of thousands of houses to rent out are contributing to the dearth of homes for sale and driving up home prices. They argue that investor buying has made it harder for first-time buyers to compete with Wall Street-backed investment firms and their all-cash offers.

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  • @Corkyskog
    36•19 days ago

    I know nothing about Ohio specifically, but some Republicans in state legislature aren’t completely brain dead or MAGA.

    I am going to hop onto my soap box for a minute and say if we want high quality US politicians, we need to better compensate State legislature roles. In Ohio they make 68k, which isn’t great, but maybe liveable in Ohio. Looking up CT as a random example, they just bumped the pay from 28k to 40k two years ago and their staffers still earn 2 to 3x their pay.

    That’s ridiculous. It means only rich people or people funded by rich people can afford to run for state legislature. This doesn’t even get into local politics where selectman can earn like 12k yearly… if we want more normal down to earth politicians, we need to fund this shit better.

    • Flying Squid
      23•19 days ago

      I have not heard any Republican in a very long time (if ever) suggest heavy taxation on a corporation.

    • themeatbridge
      14•17 days ago

      No, but they’re still conservatives, which means they will only act in their own self-interest.

      • bluGill
        1•19 days ago

        All humans act in what they think is there self-interest. Nothing to do with any political leaning.

          • bluGill
            0•19 days ago

            As much as the claim all conservetives only act in their best interest.

            • themeatbridge
              3•18 days ago

              No, that’s the defining feature of conservativism, and the only consistent value among all conservatives throughout the history of conservativism. Define the self, benefit the self, blame the scapegoat.

    • NeatoEnglish
      12•19 days ago

      You’re right. I make triple my state senator and I can only just afford a house here if I wanted to beggar myself with current rates.

    • @[email protected]
      5•19 days ago

      But if we paid them a better wage they wouldn’t be so hungry for corporate boots to lick, and the people who rule this country wont stand for that.

    • @[email protected]English
      1•19 days ago

      I think every civil employee should make the average income in their district, whatever that may be, adjusted annually, or monthly, idk depends how good their data is, if they got it, adjusted daily (I despise employers withholding pay towards a pay period, why should they hold whats mine so they can get the interest off it, without kicking that down to me? They should pay US for that convenience) If you want to earn more, bring in more/better/profitable business. A small tier system, like 3 levels, so a judge, or congressman, or senator gets 3x the clerk. Maybe 10x for governor, since that’s the pinnacle of state government, right? Senate delegations and congressional cohorts earn the same. The difference is in length of term to establish continuity in governance, it’s not another unnatural heirarchy. I mean it was probably meant as all that initially, being appointees by the governor and all, but with that repeal tho, they just longer congressmen. We can easily do without the Senate completely, at all levels.

      Why does the legislative branch have built in redundancy unless legislating is de facto kneecapped as SOP. You know what, let’s keep the check in the system there. Let’s make it fair tho, let’s set into law, at equal level of government, Civilian oversight and review of everything DOJ/DOC. And then to parallel the executive, we’ll elevate the SEC and add/enshrine citizen auditing of every dollar spent from the government and traded at the market. Both accountability houses ‘jury duty’ their workforce, and the civic duty is mandatory when leaned on, names anonymous unless unsealed by a panel of judges due to criminal activity, to prevent intimidation.

      Let’s go. Fuck corruption.