system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
Homes have recently stopped being treated as a commodity and have become platform investments for banks and rich people.
gpt
They always were. One of the big attractions to the ‘company towns’ of the past was that real estate was highly regulated to prevent rampant speculation. 

Large scale speculation on the housing market has always been a major problem, but protections have been eroded away. Things like areas that require homes be lived in by the homeowner (no renters) and laws that require B&amp;Bs to be occupied full time are becoming rarer by the year.