>Oh, wait, so you're claiming it's not a free market in reality? Suddenly those price controls don't seems like such a bad idea then. it depends - real-estate,

>Oh, wait, so you're claiming it's not a free market in reality? Suddenly those price controls don't seems like such a bad idea then. it depends - real-estate, in general, is still very much a free market. So to your point the thing to prevent rent from just being raised is someone else undercutting you. That requires there to be adequate housing to fulfill market need which there is in many places but not everywhere. That being said... the current trend of PE firms starting to buy up real-estate for the sole purpose of renting it back to people is pretty concerning, and quite frankly shouldn't be allowed IMO. What next? Privatize the water supply and then pretend the "market will make it more efficient"?