OP didn't want to post the article because it shows that its Republicunts and their enabling corporate home ownership is causing this problem.
At her first meetings with clients, many hoping to buy a first home, Sarah Ortiz Hilton runs through a list of warnings.
They may have to offer tens of thousands of dollars over the asking price only to have those offers rejected anyway, Ms. Hilton, a real estate agent, tells them. They might have to put up thousands of dollars in nonrefundable fees to get a seller to consider their offer. And if they’re looking for a home for less than $300,000, they might be out of luck.
In part, her cautionary message reflects the red-hot housing market, rising interest rates and limited supply around the country. But particularly in booming Sun Belt markets like Charlotte, it also reflects something else: the increasing influence of real estate investors buying up houses, especially at the lower end of the market, and turning them into rental properties.
About 2.5 million households shopping for a first home will be shut out of the market this year, estimates Nadia Evangelou, senior economist with the National Association of Realtors. That amounts to 15 percent of all first-time home buyers. In an already daunting market, investor purchasing is adding to the obstacles.
“The more that investors buy up entire communities and turn them into rental communities — people don’t have a choice anymore,” said Ms. Hilton, who moved from New York to Charlotte in 2007, drawn by the opportunity to buy a house in an affordable market. “They either can’t afford to buy anymore, or there’s nothing to buy.”
