The viral claim that BlackRock is buying up all the houses isn’t accurate—but it’s rooted in real issues. Rising rents, limited housing supply, and Wall Street’s growing footprint in the real estate market have fueled confusion about who’s responsible.
Professor Eric Seymour of Rutgers University says the claims have fueled “imprecision around the issue, in part stemming from the confusion between Blackstone and BlackRock, for instance.”
Blackstone is a private equity firm that acquired thousands of homes following the 2008 financial crisis.12 BlackRock is an asset manager that invests on behalf of clients—and owns very little real estate directly…
What’s Actually Driving Rent Increases?
There’s no single cause. Seymour highlights a significant housing shortage, with rising labor, material, and financing costs hindering the development of new supply.
But even when supply improves, alleged rent-fixing schemes can keep prices high. In 2025, New York and other states sued Zillow and Redfin for allegedly colluding to avoid competition.3 And in August 2024, the U.S. Justice Department sued RealPage over claims of algorithm-driven rent fixing.4
Renee Tapp, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, notes that recent rent dynamics also reflect “concentrated ownership leading to market power and the ability to exert market power through prices,” as seen in the case of RealPage. In short, when a handful of firms control a big share of similar units in the same submarket—and share pricing intelligence—tenants may face fewer genuine choices and stickier prices.
How Much Do Big Landlords Really Own?
Despite the headlines, institutional investors own only a small share of the market. A 2022 Urban Institute study found they held about 574,000 single-family rentals—just 3.8% of the 15.1 million nationwide.5
The impact is more visible in specific metro areas. In Atlanta, for example, large institutional owners controlled about 25% of single-family rentals in 2022.6
“Housing is like real estate agents say—it’s location, location, location,” Seymour says. Even if corporate landlords hold only a small share nationally, their presence can be significant in neighborhoods where first-time buyers once had better access.