Well....if that's the case, people should not worry about home values dropping. I highly doubt large corporations are purchasing homes in record numbers at high values during an up market just to collapse the housing market.
If your supposition is true, the flip side is more likely. They are buying the houses to rent them and not sell them. Their refusal to sell will constrain supply and make purchasing harder. And the higher interest rates will make purchasing harder still and force more people into renting. Which will drive rents up....and since they have so many properties..........
But there is a flaw in the design of their death star. These companies, as they always do, because they can, impossibly leverage themselves when they make these moves. As it becomes harder and harder for people to affordably live, they will just find other solutions. Kids will stay with their parents longer. People will live 6, 8, 10 to a house if they have to. More will become homeless. Disrupters will enter the market. Other solutions will present themselves.
When that happens....not if....when.......these enormous companies will be in great peril. I feel confident this will happen because it's what always happens. When it happens, these companies must be left to die. They cant be bailed out. When they die, property values will plummet. People will be bitching and moaning about it left and right, completely oblivious to the fact that they just got what they wanted.....cheaper property options.
At the root of this problem is the fact that people who own property want the values to go up. And people who want to buy property want to buy it cheap. You can't do both things at the same time.