I've been thinking on a core problem of housing affordability, and I wanted to get other market-orientated views on the issue.

I figure that the main problem with having housing on the market is that its demand is never supplied- because of the presence of investors. They buy an investment house/property, and their demand is virtually not lessened at all- they are still in the market for more housing (funds permitting), because its generally a good investment.

So this potentially indefinetly squeezes supply. For someone wanting to actually buy a house to live in (the vaunted dream) they have to compete with all this money.

What I'd prefer is if eventually this investor presence is lessened, or eliminated. I'm not suggesting any specific way of implementing it, and I know this would have reverberations and unintended consequences and while I'd like to discuss them, I'd first prefer a focus on the basic problem- how else do you get everyone their own home?

"Some people who might once have rented have been more or less forced to buy instead."

Eh? No-one would rent them a house, but they would sell them one?