I think the problem is they'll have a highly concentrated group of units and can essentially price fix them. They won't be competing with themselves. And landlords love to raise prices when others do under the guise of "market rate". If you have a captive audience (e.g., surrounding a college), there's nothing renters can do about it other than move farther away.

Being single-family homes complicates the issue, too. We're not talking about high-density units, so the growing housing supply is fairly constrained. I don't see it being enough competition to lead to a pricing war. Meanwhile, it's taking away land that could have been used for home ownership, which will likely raise the value of other single-family homes in the area, movin home ownership even further out of reach for many.

I get that not everyone wants to own a home, but it's nice to have the option. If you're laying down roots, you can lock in a fixed-rate mortgage and have an asset. When renting from a megalandlord you're subject to the whims of quarterly earnings and your one year lease might not afford much protection. I think you're also discounting the cost and hassle of having to move when JP Morgan raises prices above the competition. It's very unlikely people will exit en masse, causing the landlord to adjust the rental price back down.

You might be fine with all of that, but ridiculing people because they're uneasy with the situation is not helping the discussion at all.