Wall Street is buying up family homes. The rent checks are too juicy to ignore

Housing markets are hotter than ever, and big money is getting in on the act.

Pension funds, investment firms and Wall Street banks are snapping up family homes in Europe and the United States at a rapid pace as prices rocket higher, looking for alternatives to lockdown-hit office parks and shopping malls, and betting that a permanent increase in remote working following the coronavirus pandemic will keep demand for suburban houses elevated. At the same time, the soaring cost of home ownership means that growing numbers of younger Americans and Brits renting rather than buying houses as they start families and gravitate toward the suburbs. Some of them may find their next landlord is based on Wall Street or in London's financial district.