Sen. Elizabeth Warren is demanding answers from housing corporations with backing from private equity, who she says are involved in inflating housing prices for both renters and buyers.
of Progress Residential, American Homes 4 Rent and Invitation Homes to condemn rent hikes and rising house prices that she says are a result of corporations’ growing influence on the housing market. Her aim is to determine whether or not these businesses have been taking advantage of“Our country faces an unprecedented affordable housing supply shortage,” she wrote.
In her letters, Warren pointed out that the three companies have been acquiring homes and increasing rent at a rapid pace.
Invitation Homes and Progress Residential are acquiring homes at a rapid pace, the lawmaker noted. Invitation Homes has accelerated its pace for buying homes,Meanwhile, Progress Residential buys up to 2,000 homes every month and has even automated its house acquisition. The company can now assess a home within 15 minutes of its appearance on the Multiple Listing Service real estate database,, and can make an offer within two hours of its listing.
Warren said that Progress Residential residents have been reporting rent increases of as much as 30 percent over the past five years. In addition, the company is reportedly charging excessive fees despite not performing maintenance. The company also charges tenants a $200 “eviction administration” fee if it files to evict the tenant.
Business practices by private equity and investment firms have contributed to the greatest one-year increase in housing prices for Americans since 2007, Warren wrote. Indeed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown that shelter costs rose by 0.4 percent in December – the