I can’t reconcile these numbers. If 40% of homes were purchased by investors, why are sales down only 30%? Shouldn’t they be down 40% for the investors, plus another 20% for the entry level buyer who is squeezed out?

The builders have filled this market with excess capacity. In the US, the ratio of new units/new households, which vacillated between 1.0 and 2.0 between 1980 and 2000, stands at 2.6! That means they are building 2.6 housing units for every new household. Clearly a glut of inventory. Meanwhile, we still have a shortage of housing for low-income workers.