As home prices soar across the globe, more and more homeowners are turning to rentals to help make ends meet. What was once seen as a clever side hustle has become, for many, a lifeline. For renters and prospective buyers, however, it’s increasingly a source of mounting frustration. The competition for housing is no longer just between buyers and tenants, but between residents and revenue.
Homes, once symbols of stability and shelter, are increasingly being treated as investment vehicles, reshaping the very concept of what a home is for.With supply dwindling and demand climbing, prices are skyrocketing. And the line between hospitality and housing blurs, a global debate is intensifying: who gets to live where, and at what cost?
The modern market
The housing market today is a study in imbalance. According to The National Association of Home Builders, rental demand remains strong even as rents climb nationwide. In 2024 alone, the U.S. saw an increase of 848,000 rental households – absorbing most of the 608,000 new multifamily units completed last year, the largest surge of such development in four decades. But even with that boom, demand continues to outpace supply, leaving many locked out of stable, long-term housing.
Platforms like AirBNB have further complicated the picture. What began as a novel way to make extra income has rapidly evolved into a global business model – one that shifts properties off the traditional market and into short-term rental inventory. Instead of selling to families, many owners now hold property for profit, turning neighborhoods into mini-hospitality zones and eroding the number of houses available for purchase by single or dual-income families.
This squeeze on supply, paired with surging demand, has driven housing costs to historic highs. Over the past six years, rental prices have increased by nearly 60%.Meanwhile, the median price for a single-family home in the U.S. now stands at $412,500 – more than five times the current median household income. For millions of Americans, the dream of homeownership is slipping further out of reach, replaced by an increasingly volatile and competitive rental landscape.
This affordability gap has also led to a rise in “permanent renters” — individuals and families who, despite stable incomes, find themselves priced out of the buying market indefinitely. With down payments, mortgage rates, and closing costs all climbing in tandem, even those who could once aspire to own a modest home are now forced to compete for rental units, further intensifying demand and driving prices higher.
The landlord’s lament
While frustrations with the housing market continue to grow, it’s important to understand the perspective of small-scale landlords – many of whom are simply trying to stay afloat, not squeeze every dollar out of the system. In a market this strained, it’s common to blame rental property owners for rising prices. But not all landlords are out to exploit the system; some are just trying to secure their own form of financial stability.
To better understand the mindset of today’s independent landlord, Brokerverse spoke with Daniel Valencia, a landlord based in North Carolina. For him,renting out properties wasn’t about maximizing profits – it was about creating a safety net.
“The main reason I got into owning and renting out houses was for long term financial stability,” said Valencia. “You never know what could happen in life and it’s nice to have that plan to fall back on.”.
He added that his approach has always been more personal than profit-driven: “My idea was never to maximize profits and push higher rents every year. It was always a dream of mine to have tenants.”
Ethics of renter-reliability
As home ownership becomes increasingly out of reach for many, a difficult question surfaces: is it ethical to rent out housing when so many people can’t afford to buy a home of their own?
With 35% of Americans now living in rentals as costs climb and wages stagnate , critics are questioning the morality of property ownership for profit.
Valencia doesn’t shy away from that complexity. “I feel like it’s become much more of a problem now than before,” he said. Owning a home, he claims, is one of most people’s dreams, but that dream is getting harder to achieve with others buying houses and driving up prices in neighborhoods for profit. “It’s understandable since it’s an investment,” said Valencia,“but it’s reached a point where it gets out of balance, when it starts to affect a whole community or town.”
The tension between housing as a basic need and housing as a financial asset has created a growing ethical divide. On one side are small landlords like Valencia, who are trying to build stability without exploiting tenants. On the other hand are investors hoarding properties, raising rents and reshaping communities purely for financial gain. The result is a blurred line between survival and opportunism – and a rising stigma against anyone who rents out property, regardless of scale or intent.
“I think everyone deserves a fair chance at being able to own a home,” said Valencia. “But I also know that not every property owner shares that mindset.”
Blueprint to fixing a housing crisis
The housing crisis is intensifying year after year, with no clear end in sight. As affordability continues to decline, experts, policymakers and publications have begun to propose a range of potential solutions – from cutting excessive zoning regulations to addressing persistent supply chain issues for building materials. The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) recently released a comprehensive blueprint aimed at tackling the affordability crisis, offering a range of actionable ideas to increase supply and lower costs.
But while discussions swirl around policy and production, the core issue remains stark: housing in America is becoming less of a guaranteed necessity and more of a privilege. The divide between those who can afford to buy a home and those who can’t continues to widen. According to the Pew Research Center, 34.4% of occupied housing units were rentals in the latter half of 2024 – and that number is projected to grow.
With more properties held for profit rather than residence, the traditional path to homeownership is being rerouted to an increasingly competitive rental market. What was once a temporary stopgap is now becoming a long-term, often unaffordable reality for millions.
