Freddie Mac estimates there is a housing shortage of 3.9 million units, mostly single family homes. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway investment fund invested nearly $1 billion in two large home building companies, Lennar and DR Horton. These builders have shifted their business strategy by constructing "build to rent" homes. They sell them to institutional investors that buy the homes for a deep discount and rent them out for $2,200 per month. Build to rent homes account for 340,000 rental units, but its numbers are growing and have ballooned 270% since 2019. 

The housing market is stuck because interest rates are currently set at 6.58%. The median home price in the US is $435,000 and the average household must earn six figures to qualify for a mortgage loan. An entire generation cannot buy homes: as of 2023, only 6 million of the nation's 46 million renters can meet this benchmark. Institutional investors are banking not on a housing crash, but a change in how Americans live to subscription-based living.