The national housing shortage is often described in aggregate terms - several million homes short of equilibrium. While broad supply constraints are real, they obscure a more consequential imbalance. The most persistent and structurally significant shortage in the United States is not across all price tiers. It is concentrated at the first rung of the housing ladder. For investors allocating capital within the single-family residential sector, this distinction is critical.

The public debate around housing affordability has become increasingly simplified. Two dominant narratives tend to drive discussion: that home prices are primarily the result of insufficient housing supply, and that institutional investors are materially distorting the single-family housing market. Recent data challenges both assumptions. A February 2026 study by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco finds that over the past 50 years, U.S. home prices have t

Public discourse around housing affordability has increasingly focused on the role of institutional investors in the single-family housing market. Recent research, including The Impact of Institutional Investors on Homeownership and Neighborhood Access , offers a timely and nuanced examination of this issue, highlighting both the real pressures facing first-time homebuyers and the structural forces shaping today’s housing landscape. What this research makes clear is that hous