Over the past few decades, more and more corporations have started purchasing properties all over the US. People like BW Hughes and Warren Buffett, but also corporation leaders, are constantly acquiring new and old properties alike throughout the entire country in an effort to diversify their investments and generate wealth. However, these acquisitions come with their fair share of issues, as you can expect.
One of the main challenges related to Corporations buying up properties across the US is that it has been driving up rent prices and destroying the ability of middle-class families to acquire wealth in the long term. While this has been happening for a very long time, it seems that things took off in 2011, and by 2012 some of the biggest names in the finance industry raised over $1 billion specifically for hoarding houses, thus increasing rental prices as a result.
As soon as the industry started to grow, many foreclosure acquisitions started being targeted by large corporations. For example, the first Tuesday of every month is a foreclosure auction day, and corporate buyers are coming in to acquire properties, thus pushing away any residential buyers that would be interested in it. If anything, many of these auctions end up.
On top of that, millennials aren’t really focused on acquiring a home, and many of them are content with the idea of paying rent. Needless to say, they are one of the main targets for corporate real estate holders, mainly because they do have a pretty good income and can afford higher rental prices.
While this is not illegal, the reality is that what these corporations are doing is highly unethical. But without any legal means to stop them, corporations will continue buying properties all over the US just because they can. Not only is it a great investment, but they generate quite a lot of money via rental properties. That on its own allows corporations to continue spending their money while generating lots of profit.
In doing so, corporations are making things harder, especially for first-time home buyers or even anyone wanting to purchase a new property. It’s really difficult to try and buy a new property with so many corporations bidding against each other and surpassing any regular home buyer. They also end up increasing rental rates, which has its fair share of problems. It’s interesting to see how it will all evolve, but it’s hard to say when and if these corporations will stop snagging properties this way.