TR July-Aug 2024

MARKET & TRENDS: REI AND HOUSING HEALTH

Don’t Let Them Lie to You: Real Estate Investing Is Crucial to

Housing Market Health IT’S TIME TO STOP VILLAINIZING INVESTORS, NO MATTER THE SCALE.

BRUCE MCNEILAGE

I n July of last year, certain groups claiming to be “advocates” for homeowners took aim at real estate investors with a series of reports claiming, among other things, that 7% of the existing low-income housing tax credits currently in existence are “at risk of becoming market rate” (National Low-Income Housing Coalition, Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation) and that “the problem [of affordable housing availability] could be further exacerbated by private equity firms and other investors managing real estate portfolios for maximum profit” (Liz Farmer, RouteFifty).

“Advocates” like these who villainize real estate investors for building and acquiring residential assets and (so the argument goes) renting them out at “staggering profits” while undermining the stability of local housing inventory are really doing anything but advocating for the would-be homeowners and residents they claim to support. The sad truth of the matter is that it is impossible to solve the housing affordability crisis by throwing statistics at it—no matter how many numbers are thrown—and misapplication of

said statistics can cause lasting harm to critical players in housing-market health, like real estate investors. In truth, real estate investors, both institutional and individual, play a significant role in maintaining the health of the housing market.

IT STARTED LONG BEFORE 2008

It is common to hear people say that the single-family residential asset class—both fix-and-flip properties and single-family rentals (SFR)

34 | think realty magazine :: july - august 2024

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