Two indicators for lowering the rent

降低租金的两个指标

Planet Money

2026-06-10

17 分钟
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One specific type of affordable housing used to be popular in American cities, kept rents low, then nearly vanished. Is it time to reconsider boarding houses and single room occupancy units? If they lowered rents in cities, why did they go away? We have the history. Then, let’s talk about corporate landlords. They’re blamed for driving up rents. Studies show they do the opposite. When corporate landlords come to town, they do buy up homes, which can raise the price to buy, but at the same time lower rents. We’ll parse the impact as we consider a Trump administration plan to restrict corporate home ownership. Related episodes:Is the YIMBY movement doomed? How to fix a housing shortage How to build abundantlyCan Trump make buying a home more affordable?Support:NPR+Read: Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletterOur weekly Indicator round-up newsletterFollow: InstagramTikTokYouTubeFacebookThe original episodes of the Indicator were hosted by Darian Woods and Wailin Wong. They were produced by Julia Ritchey, Cooper Katz McKim and Corey Bridges with engineering by Travis Hagan and Robert Rodriguez. They were fact checked by Vito Emanuel and Sierra Juarez. Kate Concannon edits the show. This episode of Planet Money was produced by James Sneed with help from Emma Murphy. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
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  • This is Planet Money from NPR.

  • A few years ago, Amanda Cantrell was looking for a new house to live with her boyfriend and a friend.

  • She wanted to rent a home with a large garage that would take pets.

  • "I have a rescue dog. His name is Digby." Amanda was searching in one suburb in Murfreesboro, Tennessee,

  • and she noticed a lot of the houses were owned or managed by big corporations.

  • "It seems that those companies own all of those houses in that summer, but I didn't see one private landlord

  • when I was looking." This made Amanda a little concerned for when she becomes a buyer.

  • "We would like to buy a home in the future and the fact that corporate investors

  • can take all of them. It feels unfair." This feeling of unfairness crosses the political spectrum.

  • The 21st Century Road to Housing Act is a bill aimed at improving housing affordability.

  • It was passed in a bipartisan sweep and this bill restricts

  • large institutional investors from owning too many single family houses.

  • There are pockets in the country where institutional investors account for a higher share of homeowners.

  • But across the country, it's tiny, less than one percent.