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TooManyDraculas t1_jefeyat wrote

Ha.

No.

The current real estate market, especially on rentals, is basically engaged in price fixing. They all use a single algorithm based pricing service. One that's major innovation was discarding the idea of maximizing occupancy in favor of high turn over and continual rent or price increases.

We also have a tax system in the US that gives massive write offs for real estate losses due to vacancy, and allows pass through of those losses to individuals. And breaking them up over multiple years. That's how Trump ended up not paying taxes for a decade.

Then there's the consolidation of housing, particularly single family homes by investment capital and major banks. Which practically speaking means there's always a buyer.

Nationally we've been hearing housing costs would be going down for a variety of reasons since the great recession. They've just continued to sky rocket.

What tends to happen with this model of development. Is it actually reduces supply of middle income housing. As more and more space gets pushed as high priced housing, regardless of demand. Fewer and fewer units are available to most residents, driving up average rents.

The new expensive units, turn and burn, often sitting vacant. Then get flipped to a bank or sold off as investment properties.

Without a crash of some sort or a regulatory step in I don't see that changing any time soon. We've been watching it happen, over and over, in cities around the globe for over a decade now.

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