I moved from the East Coast to the Southwest a month ago because: affordability & opportunity. Yes, lucky I could, but finding a rental was extremely difficult over months of looking. Why? You touched on that with corporate investments, but the reality is even worse. In a city of half a million, about 1,000 houses were listed for rent. I made dozens of calls & sent messages. Why did so few answer? I did some Google-diving. Apparently 44% of available homes listed in the US are owned by equity investors. They sit vacant. By law they have to be listed for rent, but no law states their 'property management company' has to answer the phone or messages. EVER. There seems to be plenty of housing. It's locked up by rich investors trying to drive up the prices while not wanting to deal with actual people as tenants. (Fortunately I found a nice place and not too overpriced. My new landlord is a lovely woman and a nurse. Like I said... very lucky.)