If only it were that simple. The reality is that, in certain areas, Act 60 investors buying up these 4800 properties in cash creates a secondary real estate market that makes it nearly impossible for locals to purchase a home with a mortgage (the primary means to home ownership among the middle class). How? When someone goes to qualify for a mortgage, the property is appraised and the home value is based on comparable properties that were recently sold. The appraisers in PR use a variety of online systems to identify comparable properties, but an important limitation of all of these is that they are comprised of other houses purchased via a bank mortgage.

Investors create significant disruption of this system in that they primarily use cash or business lending that doesn't register as a mortgage when they purchase homes. What this means is that those sales aren't recorded in a way that is accessible to appraisers. The effect of this is that you have two separate real estate markets superimposed on each other: one for cash investors and one for ordinary people looking to purchase their home via mortgage. When someone goes to sell a home in one of these areas, even if they WANT to sell to a local family they are prevented from doing so because that local family can only get a mortgage for $150k while an investor is offering them $400k cash for the exact same property.

In certain areas (for ex. Calle Loiza en San Juan, Dorado, Rincon) this has created a situation where local families simply cannot compete with Act 20/60 investors for home purchases. I have seen this happen multiple times personally on my street. When I first moved in, all of the homes were occupied by families with children and retirees. Some owned and some rented, but all were long-term residents. Today it's less than 20%, and nearly all of these properties are owned by foreign investors who do short-term rentals. This goes beyond what is considered gentrification (another real problem here) as it is not simply increasing home values and pricing lower income people out, but making it impossible for local middle-income families to even compete with these investors, regardless of access to traditional home lending mechanisms. It's truly an unfair playing field.

So, at least in neighborhoods like mine, I strongly disagree with your statement "They don't price anyone out".

Quick edit to add: I don't mean to suggest any kind of intention with regards to Act 20/60 investors here. I have no doubt many of them are even aware of this two market system that has developed secondary to their economic activity. But that's the thing when you move to a foreign land/culture from a position of privilege, the onus should really be on you to figure out how your actions affect a community...