You can’t really use interest rates to compare our current situation with recent history.
A feeding frenzy at insanely low interest rates for an extended time caused prices to skyrocket. So even though interest rates are at a historically normal rate, the housing prices have insanely outpaced inflation to a ridiculous degree (in high cost areas like California, which is my situation).
I would be very interested in seeing the change in the distribution of:
Corp owned properties (hedge funds, etc included)
Multiple investment property owners
Short term rentals
It doesnt seems like our population had some sudden boom and new housing couldn’t keep up. Instead, it seems like greedy people have bought up every property they could, and continued to parlay the rental income into additional property purchases. And hedge funds have been buying everything up, even using AI to automate it.
If the above stands up to scrutiny, then legislation should be passed to encourage owner occupation.
Tax the shit out of any properties beyond 2 or 3. This allows small time landlords, which is healthy for the rental market.
Out right ban, via heavy taxation for X years until a full ban, businesses / hedge funds from owning single family homes / individually sold condos. The only place we need corporate money in is high density living like apartments. But these should be carefully limited in favor of individually owned condos.
Of course, there should be some grace period to allow owners to sell off their existing properties. But to be blunt, it needs to be relatively short, like 3 years, to actually affect housing prices in a good way.
Being able to own where you live should be a fundamental right to the working class. Instead, housing is treated as a commodity, and the greedy have caused runaway inflation, and the working class are suffering. Morally, I’m perfectly fine with them taking a loss.
For you individuals who bought in the last few years to occupy, you have your own home to call your own, and can afford the payments even if the value goes down. You are not entitled to your “investment” always increasing in value. Society is suffering because of the current paradigm. It needs aggressive correction.