Have run out of houses while playing Monopoly? There are limited number of 32 houses provided with the board game, and players purchase buildings to increase the rent they collect from others.
What happens if you run out of houses in Monopoly? The board game Monopoly comes with a limited number of houses per game rules. When there are no more houses available to purchase, then upgrade to hotels or sell houses on other properties back to the bank so that they can be relocated to another property.
Houses are returned to the bank when a player goes bankrupt. Otherwise, you can sell houses back to bank for half the original price to relocate to a different property or upgrade the buildings on an existing monopoly to buy hotels and regain access to the houses.
According to the Monopoly rules, houses are available for purchase for any player willing and able to pay. Despite the bank buying back houses for half the price, the bank sells houses at the original price when they sell them to players.
When there’s competition amongst the players to buy the houses, then all the houses that have been returned to the bank are sold during an auction to the highest bidder.
To strategize the Monopoly game, it is best to buy as many houses in the beginning of the game to create a house shortage. The strategy is to maintain at a four-house level in their properties to have an option to upgrade and buy a hotel to regain access to the depleted housing supply.
If you have been struggling with what to do when houses are all gone in Monopoly, we will be discussing the winning strategy. Answered below are frequently asked questions about purchasing houses and housing rules in Monopoly so you know what to do when you run out.
Can you win Monopoly without houses?
Yes, you can win Monopoly without houses. The goal of the game is to bankrupt other players through fees, fines and rents. The cost of rent increases significantly by adding houses to your properties, but houses are not required to charge rent.
It is not buying houses that makes a player win the game, but purchasing more properties to give a player control of trading for the properties they want.
A player can only buy houses when they own a monopoly of all the properties in a particular color group. Furthermore, developing those properties increases the rent amount collected whenever a player lands on them.
The fundamental point of playing Monopoly is to corner all the cash from other players by using high rent prices.
Improving properties by building houses and hotels can assist the player in achieving the above objective because the more rent paid by those players after landing on those properties, the faster the opponents run out of cash.
How many houses are in Monopoly?
In total, 32 houses are provided in the Monopoly board game. The limited supply is designed to create scarcity and increase the need for strategy to maintain a stronghold of the resource.
Purchased houses enhance the amount of rent charged whenever other opponent players land on the property.
Once the house has been purchased, a player cannot buy it back again unless it has been returned to the bank, due to bankruptcy, through auction, or a player selling it at half the original price.
In the beginning of the game, players are allowed to purchase as many houses as possible, provided they have the monopoly on properties, houses are available in the bank, and only if the properties they own can hold the capacity.
To purchase the houses, a player doesn’t necessarily have to wait until their turn and they can even buy houses while in Jail. However, multiple houses can be purchased by a player in turn.
Monopoly House Rules
There are 32 houses available in the Monopoly game, and a player doesn’t necessarily have to purchase them during their turn. They can purchase them between other players’ turns and also while locked in Jail.
With buildings, many opportunities lay in front of you from collecting higher rents to swapping houses with a hotel to raise the value.
Other than the general instructions, here are additional Monopoly house rules that players need to know before continuing the gameplay:
- The maximum number of buildings a player can have on a property is four. A player can only upgrade a property with four houses to a hotel, and by doing so, the four houses go back to the bank and become available for purchase once again.
- The Bank buys houses back at half their original price when a player is faced with a financial crunch and needs to pay a debt.
- Due to bankruptcy, houses get returned back to the bank.
- Once houses are bought, they cannot be purchased by another player unless they return to the bank.
- Auctioned houses sell to the highest bidder, this happened when houses are returned to the Bank and there are multiple bidders at the same time.
- When all the houses have been purchased, and no more are left, no player is allowed to build a house.
- Return houses are available for the other players to purchase. When more players compete to purchase the same house, the bank starts the bidding process, and the house goes to the player who has the highest bid.
- Each property card indicates the price of houses.
- Houses are built evenly on the properties owned by the player. For instance, a player must build at least one house on each property of the color group before upgrading to a second house on a property in the monopoly.
- Houses are able to be purchased when a player owns all the properties of a color group, which is called a monopoly.
Monopoly Housing Shortage
The housing shortage is a standard strategy of the original Monopoly game used by players to grind their opponent into a corner.
There are 32 houses in the game, and once they are placed on the board a player is not allowed to purchase anymore. Same goes for hotels, and you can also run out of hotels due to the limited supply available in the game.
Therefore, if a player can buy all the houses as quickly as possible, they stall their opponent quite easily.
The 32 houses are enough to cover 8 properties and place 4 houses on each properties. If a player can fully cover two monopolies with four houses on each property, then there are only eight houses left.
As a result, this effective strategy shows that buying multiple houses on your properties will prevent others from being able to buy building and increase the rent they charge.
Running Out of Houses in Monopoly: Conclusion
There are only 32 houses supplied on the Monopoly board game. Players can only buy houses when they own a monopoly of properties in a certain color group.
When the bank runs out of houses to sell, a player is not allowed to build a house unless they wait for other players to return some houses to the bank to be repurchased once again.
The houses can be returned to the bank only if the players are unable to pay and end up bankrupt, four houses are upgraded into a hotel, or the houses are sold back to the bank for half price.
Houses are a great asset to Monopoly game but they are not the only way to win the game. It is easy to buy more houses to raise and collect the rent whenever the player land on, however other alternatives to win include focusing on railroads and colored groups when there is a house shortage.
There is a limited number when it comes to buying houses. Some of the players use this tactic to buy up all the houses in the beginning of the game to place themselves in a better position to win the game down the line.
Once the houses are purchased, other players cannot buy unless it is returned to the bank or trade properties with other player under mutual agreement. Even then, houses must be sold back to the bank and half price before exchanging hands with the new purchaser.
It is possible to run out of houses while playing the board game Monopoly. Use these strategies to ensure that you always have access to a supply of houses so that you don’t get stuck running out of houses to increase rents.