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The wealthy and Wall Street ruined the housing market for everyone else. Millennials aren’t helping, either.
Buyers waiting for cheaper houses are out of luck. The wealthy, investment firms, and millennials are creating a permanently higher price floor.
By Ben Winck
The housing market is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rock: persistently high demand that’s lifted prices at breakneck speed. The hard place: a historic lack of supply and an inadequate response from struggling builders.
Home shoppers have wealthy Americans, Wall Street, and millennials to thank.
The buying spree that began in 2020 drove price growth to a three-decade high, and experts say they expect home inflation to remain elevated into 2022. While construction has accelerated, it remains far from the levels needed to cool the market.
The market already favored deep-pocketed buyers who can afford to outbid others and aren’t as affected by stronger inflation. Wall Street has become an increasingly powerful actor, with firms scooping up homes to rent them out for steady returns, Insider’s Alex Nicoll and Daniel Geiger reported.
With millennials squarely in their peak homebuying age, yet another lift to home demand is coming at a time of historically weak supply.
