A big part of the massive increase in property values over the last five years has been the phenomenon of large corporations buying single family homes and outbidding families. REIT’s and other large corporations do this.
In the state of North Carolina, we need to prohibit this activity if we want young adults to be able to afford homes. There is an erroneous perception among the political class that rezoning and massive increases in home construction are the only ways to make this happen. When you have large corporations with access to large amounts of capital unnaturally juicing the market, the little guy is squeezed out. Owning a single home is an intrinsic part of the American dream:
I *will not* allow Blackstone to come into Florida, buy up entire neighborhoods, and force out families who just want to buy a home. Blackstone has done nothing for our country or our state. It’s time we stand up to them. pic.twitter.com/eA7PCNL5ss
— James Fishback (@j_fishback) November 7, 2025
I purchased our first home in 1963 and sold it with no equity. The second home was a VA loan and it also was sold breaking even. The next home was purchased in 1967 and was sold making a small profit. The next three homes also gave us some nice gains which was invested in a larger home in Greensboro where we lived for 40 years. When that home was sold I cashed in and was exempted form capital gains taxes.
It was a different market during those years. Being frugal also heled us survive hard times.
Things are different for a variety of reasons some of which you mentioned.
I’ll leave it to the politicians to figure it out for the next generations.
Fred, I think the large corporations alter the supply vs. demand balance. Their presence in the market and their bidding prices upward alters the demand curve substantially, and this leads to much higher selling prices. They jack up demand.