Landlords buying land does not unilaterally inflate the cost of land. Arguably in the long-run, the price of land just reflects the discounted cashflow of its f

Landlords buying land does not unilaterally inflate the cost of land. Arguably in the long-run, the price of land just reflects the discounted cashflow of its future rental value. City centre land is expensive not because of landlords, it's expensive because so many different parties are able to derive so much utility from occupying it, and are willing and able to bid large amounts to capture that utility. Arguably there are two big problems with the market for land/housing, and landlords aren't one o them: #1 Increases the value of land due to neighbourhood effects accrue to the owner when they do little to deserve it (you can tackle this with land-value taxes). #2 Various planning controls inhibit the market's ability to respond to high accomodation prices with the construction of more accomodation, keeping rents at a higher level than they would otherwise be without this government intervention.