https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/01/04/corporate-landlords-silicon-valley/
The millions of foreclosures in the housing collapse created new opportunities for global investment firms to buy homes at scale, becoming corporate landlords controlling tens of thousands of homes. And a wave of digital advances sped up and reduced friction in home-trading operations and property management. The biggest beneficiaries of Silicon Valley innovations have been Wall Street interests, not individual homeowners — and certainly not renters.
Corporate landlords, focused on easy yields from rental homes, have emerged as an increasingly important and unique actor in housing markets around the country, especially in the Sun Belt. Today, corporate landlords are riding a wave of growth fueled by market conditions emerging during the pandemic. Their growth, though, comes at a cost for the rest of us. Corporate landlords are outcompeting would-be owner occupiers with all-cash, no-contingency offers; they’re charging rent increases averaging 20 percent for new move-ins; and they’re more likely to pursue eviction than mom-and-pop landlords, even during the pandemic.