“Investors” are buying homes, jacking up prices

“Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field,  until no place is left and you live alone in the land.” Isaiah 5:8.

 The prophet Isaiah makes it clear that God is not pleased with the rich who speculate in land and leave the poor landless and homeless. Yet this is what is happening in America today. “Investors” are grabbing homes and making it increasingly difficult for home buyers to find an affordable home. Another example of how the “free market” is exacerbating our nation’s housing crisis. Has the time come for the government to start building affordable homes, as it did in the 1970s? What would Jesus and the prophets call on us to do? –Anthony

A confluence of factors — rising construction costs, restrictive zoning rules and shifting consumer preferences, among others — has already led to a scarcity of affordably priced housing in many big cities. Investors, fueled by Wall Street capital, are snapping up much of what remains.

“If it weren’t bad enough out there for first-time home buyers, the additional competition from investors is increasingly pushing starter homes out of the reach of many households,” said Ralph McLaughlin, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic, a provider of real estate data.