me_irl

Supply and demand. The 2008 financial crises crushed perspective home home owners and rightfully made it harder to purchase homes for people with low credit. The demand for construction slowed/stopped driving many construction businesses out of business. Now we don't have enough supply or enough construction to meet the supply. Somewhat ironically rents and prices are so high that it is economically viable to start building again. Many new apartments are being built now and for the first time in a very long time rents actually flatlined.

Beyond this there were also issues that made the problem even worse. Land lords started using the same tools to determine rent and even though they weren't directly colluding, in effect they were through the tools. Also Blackstone started buying up as much property as it could during the low interest rates during covid.