IT’s Not a Housing Boom. It’s a Land Grab - COLORLINES
In their absence, financial firms and rich global jetsetters are snapping up hundreds of millions of dollars of property each week.
Just in the last 12 months, Wall Street’s Blackstone Group has raised $8 billlion to buy up homes on Main Street. Following suit, according to The New Republic, JP Morgan Chase—the nation’s largest bank—has organized a fund to purchase 5,000 single-family homes in states with some of the most depressed real estate prices. As I wrote last year, a former Morgan Stanley housing strategist left that bank, organized a billion dollars, and is purchasing up to 10,000 homes with these new resources.
Paying above market price and with cash, these firms are setting the pace for the housing market and crowding out non-wealthy Americans who would normally buy. As the Washington Post reports, seven out of 10 home sales in states like Florida are made by these institutional investors. In down-and-out markets like Atlanta, four out of 10 home purchases are made by investors.
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