The Stop Wall Street Landlords Act has been introduced in Congress by Rep. Ro Khanna. The bill would raise taxes on the purchase of single family homes by private equity and corporations.
They shouldn't even be able to buy single family homes. They're buying houses all over the world raising house prices. They belong in the trash with Airbnb.
There are a few, limited, cases where they should be able to.
For example, if they have operations in an area that has frequent medium term employees coming in and out. It's valid for them to say we will offer you a house for the time you are here.
But I would generally agree there is no reason for an investment company to be investing in single-family homes. It's good for the investment company, bad for society.
I think there are a significant number of different ways that a large corporation could provide housing for medium-term employees besides purchasing single family homes. Purchasing small apartment buildings, like a fourplex, or purchasing an empty lot and putting manufactured homes on it creating more housing instead of taking the starter homes from normal families.
Yes beyond a limit that property would be unrentable due to high rent. Then since the property owner still would have to pay taxes on the property he might sell it.
That is if the law is properly worded and properly applied.
Your analysis is missing half the story. This setup would encourage local property ownership. They would undercut the corporations. We might see increased competition and therefore lower prices as a result.
I agree with you, though. A strong solution is better.
Even a baby step is a step in the right direction, but can we be honest with the naming here? "Mildly Inconvenience Wall Street Landlords with a Tax They will pass on to their Renters Act" is more wordy, but tells you everything you need to know.
Meh. I had much better luck with corporations than private landlords. The people working for corporations generally want to do a good job and keep people happy. Owners want to minimize costs and invade your privacy to make sure you aren't causing too much wear and tear, since that's money otherwise going in their pocket.
Both will end up with shitty carpet and cheap appliances, of course.
I'm not so sure. The knee-jerk reaction of the cynic in me is to agree with you, but I actually think it's fairly unlikely that they own rental properties specifically. Many, if not most, probably own multiple properties as rich people are wont to do but, I would imagine that most of those are just "summer homes" or similar rather than something that is rented out as a "landlord" in the way most people think of it. It is possible that they could be investors in these funds, REITs, or other such vehicles which would make them indirect owners of these items.
Raising sales tax won't do a fucking thing. The increase needs to be on property taxes, so it recurs year after year. And it needs to apply to everyone except owner-occupants. Investors need to abandon renting as a viable business model. They can replace it with private mortgages and land contracts (contract for deed, rent to own) arrangements where the "tenant" gains equity and is considered an owner-occupant.
Worth noting that private equity only owns a very small percentage of homes in the country so while this would have impact, it's not going to change house prices, it simply might make the line take slightly longer to go up. What will impact housing affordability is simply building more housing. Eliminate single family zoning and replace it with a residential-compatible zoning that allows for quadplexes, ADUs and quiet businesses.