Date: February 2nd, 2022 11:53 AM
Author: Bisexual mind-boggling principal's office queen of the night
If you live in a thriving or popular area where both rent and home prices have been increasing with an alarming regularity, there's a fair likelihood Blackstone is who you have to thank. They go into growing areas, buy up as many single family homes as they can, then turn around and rent them.
This has had the effect of simultaneously increasing house prices (by decreasing available supply on the market) and increasing rent prices because many families who can't live in an apartment and need a home but can't afford to buy must now rent instead...from Blackstone, who owns all the rentals in their area and controls the pricing. When markets cool off and prices go down, Blackstone sweeps in and scoops them up en masse by presenting all-cash offers and incentives that individual buyers can't compete with.
They own many tens of thousands of properties, many of which were nabbed after the bust in 2007, and are the largest owner of single family homes in the United States.
On top of their entire business being predicated on preying upon families who want to buy homes and build an investment for retirement, the two founders of Blackstone are massive political donors with tons of lobbying clout - one is a close friend of Donald Trump and served as the chair of a White House council on economic strategy and policy.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5022195&forum_id=2#43892414)