View or download a PDF version of the full report here.

Cashing in on Our Homes: Billionaire Landlords Profit as Millions Face Eviction

The report, “Cashing in on Our Homes: Billionaire Landlords Profit as Millions Face Eviction,” was co-authored by Bargaining for the Common Good, the Institute for Policy Studies and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. It examines 20 corporate landlords, including many owned by real estate tycoons that have wealth totaling $194 billion, and have seen their wealth increase $21.2 billion since mid-March 2020. These 20 corporate landlords control the fate of 2 million families renting houses, apartments, or manufactured home lots. These nearly 2 million units of housing represent about 4% of rental housing units in the United States, more than one in 25 nationwide. 

Many of these companies also profited off the 2008 financial crisis by buying up real estate at rock-bottom prices after the mortgage meltdown. Today, during the pandemic-induced economic crisis, these 20 landlords have amassed at least $245 billion in “cash on hand”– loans, cash and other funds from investors, banks and financial firms – they can use to capitalize on the current economic crisis and increase their stranglehold on residential real estate by expanding their portfolio of rental properties during the coming months and years.