I think it's more closely related to scarcity and how much someone's mortgage can be subsidized by monthly rents, and a lack of choice for renters to have other

I think it's more closely related to scarcity and how much someone's mortgage can be subsidized by monthly rents, and a lack of choice for renters to have other options. I don't think a lot of mortgage holders would be able to realistically pay their mortages if they weren't renting their basement out, and I know a lot of people who have houses now wouldn't be able to buy them because their salaries are wildly inadequate for servicing what they'd list for. But generally you're right if that dynamic weren't so insane. A 1 bdr condo in my city would cost an overall ~$4000 for a really old condo in a shitty building, and there's <9% of people on record in the country who'd be able to afford that without a ton of pressure, and the only people I know that own anything more than that absolutely couldn't pay for it without renting our all of their rooms. I guess it's still proportional in the sense that eventually renters will literally just have no money left