Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Institutional ownership of U.S. rentals didn't happen by accident. An analysis out of Princeton's Journal of Public and International Affairs argues that post-2008 policy and market shifts "enabled institutional investors to convert former owner-occupied homes into rentals," a process tied to "rising rents and worsening living conditions" for many tenants. The paper threads a clear line from foreclosure-er ...