Umit G. Gurun, Jiabin Wu, S. Xiao, Serena Wenjing Xiao
{"title":"Do Wall Street Landlords Undermine Renters’ Welfare?","authors":"Umit G. Gurun, Jiabin Wu, S. Xiao, Serena Wenjing Xiao","doi":"10.1093/rfs/hhac017","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n 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.","PeriodicalId":21124,"journal":{"name":"Review of Financial Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.8000,"publicationDate":"2022-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Review of Financial Studies","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhac017","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
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.
期刊介绍:
The Review of Financial Studies is a prominent platform that aims to foster and widely distribute noteworthy research in financial economics. With an expansive editorial board, the Review strives to maintain a balance between theoretical and empirical contributions. The primary focus of paper selection is based on the quality and significance of the research to the field of finance, rather than its level of technical complexity. The scope of finance within the Review encompasses its intersection with economics. Sponsoring The Society for Financial Studies, the Review and the Society appoint editors and officers through limited terms.