As a thought exercise, free markets exist on the basis of everyone behaving like a rational actor, working in their own self-interest which results in the marke

As a thought exercise, free markets exist on the basis of everyone behaving like a rational actor, working in their own self-interest which results in the market becoming more and more optimized. Mind you, I'm talking pure free market theory. This means if you were to consider renters, land owners etc within a free market, the rational option is to take actions which improve their lot. This may be short term solutions, but it's the result of people behaving in their own rational self-interest. If a city has 50+% of people renting; then they will take action to lower the costs of renting. Similarly, if a city has a large amount of people owning property, then people will take action to increase the value of their property. The only action to stop this would be...government intervention. Which means then the government is responsible for regulating the market against the whims of the people it's supposed to represent. In the case of renting and home ownership, I don't think a free market can ever truly exist.