Landlords have costs and rates of return compete with other investments. So a lower rent will result in, in aggregate obviously as individuals differ, landlords

Landlords have costs and rates of return compete with other investments. So a lower rent will result in, in aggregate obviously as individuals differ, landlords selling their rentals and putting that capital elsewhere with higher returns. It’s more likely that an owner occupier would buy than a new landlord (for reasons above since rate of return is lower) so there will be fewer units available for rent. So it’s good news on people looking to buy, but bad news for people looking to rent. Sometimes renters are wannabe buyers but frequently renters have different desires and don’t want to buy. The solution, I think, to the 30k income/300k house is to build more affordable housing. So that means getting condos down to $75-100k. In my area double incomes are common so many houses are built assuming two incomes, so at 60k that means 150-200k for a home to be affordable. In the US the median salary per worker is $50k [0]. This will vary quite a bit based on geography but this means the “median affordable home” should be $150k or $300k for double income households. [0] https://www.thebalancemoney.com/average-salary-information-for-us-workers-2060808 https://www.thebalancemoney.com/average-salary-information-f...