There is no evidence that the housing market has reached a level of consolidation needed for cartel-like activity (i.e. withholding supply to increase total ren

There is no evidence that the housing market has reached a level of consolidation needed for cartel-like activity (i.e. withholding supply to increase total rent revenue) to be feasible. No one is withholding supply. Asset management companies don't buy houses and leave them vacant. They rent them out. There is no net-loss in supply. There is no effect on rents, only purchase price. > These companies have a large amount of capital to deploy to make sure their assets go up and to the right. These companies are required by law to share their investment strategies. They explicitly state that they are only interested in buying housing in areas with strong job markets and _restrictive supply policies_. It makes no sense to buy housing in an area where the bottom can fall out on rents because other people with money can just build more housing. Blackstone et al. are a convenient boogeyman, but they are merely taking advantage of our housing crisis, not creating it.