It's weird to write an article about the housing crisis without mentioning the artificial scarcity caused by the foreign speculators and domestic monopolists like Blackrock buying up all the houses.
In my experience it's been very difficult to find any singular piece of writing that talks about all the angles. It's a complex issue, but each of the complexities matters and they affect one another.
They invest in new construction and hire management companies to rent out houses. I would argue that spending money to acquire a new house is “buying a house.”