How the 30-year mortgage helped create a permanent housing bubble

You won’t hear many people object to President Trump’s executive order to ban corporate purchases of residential homes. The idea sounds like common sense. But it targets a minor symptom while leaving the real disease untouched — and in some respects, it risks making that disease worse.

Institutional home-buying already peaked during the COVID-era bubble and has receded since then. In most markets, corporate ownership represents a small share of total inventory. Even at its height, it never explained why housing costs exploded for everyone else. High prices created the opportunity for institutional buyers, not the other way around.

The goal should not be cheaper debt. It should be cheaper homes.

Government policy inflated the housing market. Institutional buyers simply responded.

During COVID, the Federal Reserve pushed interest rates