This makes a lot of sense--it seems that the real problem is rent "stickiness." And there's a lot of factors making rent sticky: the financing structure you me

This makes a lot of sense--it seems that the real problem is rent "stickiness." And there's a lot of factors making rent sticky: the financing structure you mentioned, maybe the bimodal distribution of tenants I'd hypothesized. In residential there's also the "unintended consequence" of quite a few tenant's rights laws that makes rent extra sticky (why do you think NYC landlords require proof of 40x monthly rent as income?!) But what doesn't seem to bek the case is simply chalking it up to "tax breaks" which is a common boogyman.