On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “The Bottom Line,” former Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender said that restrictions on companies buying homes make him “pretty nervous.” And said that the key is to increase supply. He also argued that restrictions would be a problem because they would hamstring people looking to sell when there is a downturn.
Co-host Brian Brenberg asked, “As an economist, do you like the idea of limiting who can buy homes in the market, or does that make you a little nervous from kind of that old free market perspective?”
Faulkender answered, “It makes me pretty nervous. So, I am one of those who thinks that the problem that we have is an insufficient supply of single-family homes, not that what we need to do is curtail demand for them. Now, I will readily admit my bias. I am a renter of a single-family home, and I am appreciative of the fact that, for those of us that think the right thing to do is to rent, that there [are] opportunities for us to find houses to rent.”
Co-host Dagen McDowell then said that if restrictions were put in place, “in a downturn in housing, that buyer will not be there.”
Faulkender responded, “That’s absolutely right. You need to think about that this is not just for a time period when there [are] housing constraints.” He added that you need buyers to come in during a downturn, “so that sellers can have a market. We really should think more broadly about — before we put in place restrictions on who can buy homes.”
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