Do Wall Street Landlords Undermine Renters' Welfare?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gurun, Umit G.; Wu, Jiabin; Xiao, Steven Chong; Xiao, Serena Wenjing
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas; University of Oregon
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhac017
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 70
• 关键词: horizontal mergers; housing-market; ASSET SALES; IMPACT; crime; acquisitions; EFFICIENCY; investors; SUPPLIER; scale

摘要

We examine the recent rise of institutional investment in the single-family home rental market and its implications for renters' welfare. Using institutional mergers to identify local exogenous variation in institutional landlords' scale and market share, we show that rents increase in neighborhoods where both merging firms owned properties (i.e., overlapped neighborhoods) relative to other nonoverlapped neighborhoods. Meanwhile, the crime rate also significantly decreases in overlapped neighborhoods after mergers. Our findings suggest that while institutional landlords leverage their market power to extract greater surplus from renters, they also improve the quality of rental services by enhancing neighborhood safety.