[dgrant]

I agree, this bothers me as well; the mansions seem to get way more press than they deserve.

What gets under-reported is:

-the non-foreigner/non-Chinese/locals that are hanging on to 2-3 properties -the person who can now afford that $1 million condo because they just sold their smaller condo for $500,000 and netted $250,000. -the fact that interest rates are at the lowest ever and some years ago amortization periods were pushed up to 40 years and down payments of 0-5% were allowed.

[Hondor]

Yep. These are also the people causing housing price rises by voting for local governments that'll protect their investments and disallow more rapid new construction or smaller lot sizes.

[1anh2kqowg]

Investors who rent out their properties might change the price:rent ratio, but they don't contribute to the housing shortage.

[linkregister]

They contribute to the issue of renters being unable to buy. Each of those standalone houses are not available for purchase that otherwise would have been, unless the investor bought the land, applied for residential zoning, and built the property.

[1anh2kqowg]

>They contribute to the issue of renters being unable to buy.

But on the other hand, they give renters a good deal. Buying at a high price:rent ratio means a low cap rate, which makes for a bad investment. So the landlord is essentially giving ownership returns to the renter, while keeping price risk themselves.

To the extent that rents are also high, this shows that the problem is not, in fact, investors but instead a limited supply of housing.