maybe the solution rests with fannie/freddie and their role as a backstop. perhaps limit fnma/fmac mortgage insurance to exclude institutional borrowers (or affiliates thereof). when i was investing in single family housing on a large scale (several thousand homes) the vehicle thru which they were bought/held/sold used fannie/freddie loans extensively, since it was dirt cheap financing during qe era and you could lock in 30 years for nothing funny enough, the real money here is being made by pension funds, institutional investors, etc. who represent the retirement accounts of the screeching teachers unions, govt employees, etc. with a select few at the top of the pe/reit food chain also raking it in (see: invh and blackstonenot rock).  single family reits traded at the highest (a)ffo multiples because they had the income and an appreciation component which could be harvested better than more concentrated reits. this dynamic made sfh a hot area for institutional money to pour in during qe when yields were shot down to zero, and you saw the likes of blackrock et al being this to the mainstream. cut off the debt source (fannie/freddie), and the returns to equity are crap.
United States