There are also second order political implications to widespread home ownership. You greatly increase the number of land owners, which greatly increases their p

There are also second order political implications to widespread home ownership. You greatly increase the number of land owners, which greatly increases their power as a political block. This leads to policies that drive up the value/cost of land. The dynamics here are actually backwards from most markets. Normally by diffusing ownership over a large population you decrease the power of the owner lobby, since no individual cares enough to vote on it; whereas the concentrated owners have the resources and motivation to be a powerful special interest group. However, for housing, even with individual ownership the house would still be most people's largest asset. Further, in the concentrated ownership situation the class of renters is still motivated to vote on the issue because housing is such a major portion of their lives.