Is Wall Street REALLY Buying Up All the Homes?

Once again, we're tackling some popular conspiracies about BlackRock buying up all the homes in America.

DISCLAIMER:
Richard does not have a position in Blackrock or Vanguard.
This channel is for education purposes only and does not constitute financial advice - Richard is not responsible for investment actions taken by viewers. Please seek out a registered advisor if you require assistance (while Richard is a registered portfolio manager at WDS Investment Management, he does not provide advice through The Plain Bagel, which is not affiliated with his employer).

[conormacneill]

I really hate that it takes 8x the effort to debunk a lie than to start one

[psychickumquat]

I'm not surprised individuals are a huge problem, every idiot with money in the 2010s suddenly thought they were a pro real estate mogul. Buy a home, refresh it with the cheapest paint and furniture possible, then try to sell it for a huge markup or rent it for obscene amounts. Unfortunately the pandemic helped them actually make a profit...

[realestalex]

The shady music suddenly popping up cracked me up every time.

[KngHoward]

I think Blackrock and Blackstone get the flack because their names just line up so well with a corporate dystopian naming theme.

[douglassun]

I wonder how much Air BnB has encouraged landlord ownership of single family homes. The last time I stayed in a short-term rental, it seemed pretty clear that the owners were not a family out of town for a while, but a real estate management company that was probably renting it our year-round.

[Matisto]

Blackstone used to own 3000 apartments in Amsterdam, they recently sold most of it due to regulations cutting profits. We have the exact same situation over here in the Netherlands.

[electricerger]

Have you ever looked at your local zoning codes. It would be illegal to build a modern 1950s home because it doesn't meet minimum lot requirements. R1 zoning, parking requirements, etc. have been making it so we can only build the most inefficient types of housing. New grads in Kanata (Ottawa) literally have to rent houses if they don't want to commute in from downtown.

[westboy]

Richard, you're such a breath of fresh air. I've been following you since you were small-ish, we even interacted here and there and it's great to see that you're still going at it with the same vigor. In the age of misinformation and skewed perspectives, it's good to hear educated opinions and facts. Thank you!

[nousersnamesleft]

Small, multiple home buyers can’t be overlooked. I can only speak to my area, but people whose net worth is between 500k-5mil often own multiple properties. They are on their 4th house and rent out all of them. It’s a good portion of the population where I live. They don’t just own locally either.

[sebastianb.]

Someone call the police Larry Fink is in my home

[xXKyledkXx]

I'd love to see the stats on flippers. In my area, most homes that could be affordable, or are "affordable" because of their condition are quickly purchased and flipped. They go back on the market 3-6 months later for $40-70k more than they were listed at with new counter tops, fresh carpet, and a bad coat of paint over 1970's wallpaper. It was extremely hard to find our home competing with that.

[Jehayland]

I’m opening up an investment firm, calling it BlackBoulder, and jumping in on the action!

[justinbostick]

I want to thank you for your, clear level headed approach to explaining investments and helping bringing insight to how scamers, movies, tiktokker, news articles, politicians etc are not the go to source for understanding. I like also thank you for taking the time and helping everyday people get basic understanding of this information you are blessing my guy.

[privacylock]

Remember the "Get Rich in Real Estate" infomercials from the 1980's? Buy 6 rentals and retire early. it is not new.

[fakealias]

Blame Grant Cardone, Meet Kevin, and Graham Stephen for pushing rental property investments onto normal people. That and Airbnb incentivizing the same.

[willardSpirit]

The problem is people think a home as only as an investment and a get rich quick scheme. A house is also a place to live and its value should be just match inflation. But also our restrictive housing zoning codes can't help build more homes. And NIMBY's saying no to more building mix-use and denser neighborhoods

[Nighthawk]

I think its important to remember that homes *arent* a traditional investment. There may be 100~ million homes in the US but the vast vast majority of them have people living in them with no immediate plans to move, therefore they arent really fair to be considered when talking about companies buying up homes. The stats that are way more important are the buying of homes that are actually put up for sale, not the fraction of the total amount of homes there are.

[somethingsomethingsomethingdar]

Hmm I wonder where all the supply went… oh yeah people have been told that what you should do is buy a starter home, then buy a second home with the equity you build, move into that one and then rent out your original home. Rinse and repeat. What happens when 10 percent of the population does this? There goes 10 percent of your supple every round. I know many people that have done this 3-7 times already

[ChopperChops]

The most important stat is how many residential houses that have come to market have been bought by investors (of any type). 25% is a massive amount of homes taken away from owner/buyers

[Peccs]

As someone who writes insurance for quite a few 1-4 family rentals, I see a lot of homes being scooped up for cash. I think you nailed it when you referred to the types of homes being built. Simple 1-2 bed & 1-2 bath homes just aren't being built. To me, it just doesn't seem like it would be profitable for a builder to build these at scale these days. They used to exist 50 years ago but not anymore.