@animeirl The jacking up of prices is the natural reaction of the market to high demand/low supply, which is what I was talking about. Converting units to condos or to multiple smaller units is an attempt at responding to high demand/low supply.
The high demand/low supply is thanks to government over regulation and/or immigration (depends on the place).
Counting empty condos as "lost revenue" is again the fault of the government.

@animeirl @matrix A piece of it you don't understand is regulation. The cost of a single-family home averages 33% regulations and fees. For multi-unit buildings, it can be even higher. So the urbanites demand more housing be built, then the same people demand it follow a kabuki theatre of regulations, then they are shocked and appalled when that cost becomes part of the rent. Building apartments is dirt cheap in terms of labor and materials. Land it can depend. But every little fiefdom of crooked bureaucrats and their community organizer enablers wants a piece of the pie. In some big cities it's outright bribes just to get the permitting approved. There are thousands of empty lots in LA for sale with completed surveys and building plans included, but no one will approve building anything on them. Since no one can pay the rents of what does get built, they divide them into smaller units to try to spread the cost or convert them into condos or try to write them off. The insane inflation the Fed creates gets old people kicked out because the rent they're paying can't cover the basic upkeep and taxes. You could almost feel sorry for building owners if there were any such normal people left, but there aren't. All of that real estate belongs to and is managed by some Rothschild subsidiary in the Cook Islands. You have to look higher up for the source of the problems, but oh, those are The People Who Can't Be Criticized.

@jack @animeirl @matrix rental median markets near to always reflect prices as at most 30% of income or higher. Here they cap application assessment means testing for income at 30% to allow for liabilities (most dumb fucks rely on credit to live a d make do for bills) and rejected on the basis of being unaffordable to match incoming income vs outgoings. We have the highest minimum wage, worldwide yet the highest cost of weekly living too.

@jack @animeirl @matrix

Don't forget the wonderful con game of selling their roach infested shoe box apartments for millions.

@benisnotreal @matrix @animeirl How could I forget?!