Post #2437531

I talked to a stranger about rent prices. He lamented how expensive the new high rise was, but said it is ultimately better, because once people move in to that, the places they leave will be vacant and assumed rented out at lower rate. Landlords can only increase rent at around 2% per year unless their place goes vacant. And I hear so many stories where a landlord is actively trying to get tenants out so they can re-rent at a higher rate. I have all of this anecdotal evidence that the opposite of this person's assumption is true. I don't get it. I don't see what incentive a landlord, corporate or otherwise, has to lower the prices just because some tenants move out. Where I live, it's basically a cartel. The corporate landlords can just say "we've decided that the market rate is this," and everyone will have to base their landlording budgets around that. Also, like, this can't be a supply-demand equation because the demand in question (most agree a home is a basic necessity, right?), is always equal to the amount of people. Could you imagine "*gasp*, your prices are too high, I will simply choose not to survive, good day sir!"?