I see these articles every now and then over last 5-10 years, but as someone who has followed/worked around this industry in the past, I can tell you that there is enough demand, supply and capital for this industry and it is not going anywhere.
All of these companies are EBDITA profitable with decent margins and the net loss is them reinvesting in marketing, product and M&A (from their earnings reports). As the effects of covid wanes, their profits are going to go up very quickly which will be seen over the next year.
City and state governments can offer temporary tax breaks for building new housing in certain zones to attract capital. This is already done in a way when government is trying to attract capital for new industries via SEZs.
One problem with high tax based on capital gains at sale is that it needs the sale to happen and you start running into issues where people never sell and houses will get inherited. This still doesn’t tackle the problem head on.
Most housing discussions seems to avoid one of the main reason driving the prices up, their treatment as an investment vehicle.
Residential housing should not be used as an investment vehicle. Period. Its primary purpose is to allow families to own and live in the house. Mandating that can eliminate the rich landlords/foreign investors buying houses just for investment, stabilize the demand and drive down the prices.
One way to mandate that could be progressive property tax based on how many properties you already own with a max cap on number of allowed residential properties one can own. This might decrease incentive to build new housing for developers, but can be solved by temporary tax breaks for building new housing.
All of these companies are EBDITA profitable with decent margins and the net loss is them reinvesting in marketing, product and M&A (from their earnings reports). As the effects of covid wanes, their profits are going to go up very quickly which will be seen over the next year.