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If the market was something remotely non-dysfunctional a slump would be expected. BUT, why are thousands of buildings/units empty in NYC that have been empty f

If the market was something remotely non-dysfunctional a slump would be expected. BUT, why are thousands of buildings/units empty in NYC that have been empty for years with an outrageous rent? Because among other things the owners win/lose less when the building is empty due to taxes plus many are with a noose around the neck waiting for the big sheik to come around and buy their building for a non-sense amount of money. A version of that exists all around the country, plus builders "stopped" building new houses around a year ago, so inventory will disappear and prices will stay or even go up. Apartment buildings are the exception for now but it's a gamble and with the high costs of everything ( now including finance ), I don't see how those prices will slump. They'll stop being so ridiculous at best.

colinmhayes 4y ago
NYC vacancy is around 4%. It's effectively impossible to get below 3% due to people moving and renovations. The meme that the issue is vacant units is pretty much just straight up false. Yes, there are some luxury condos that are largely vacant, but those barely effect the rental prices of normal units other than maybe encouraging building luxury instead of normal housing.
- tmnvix 4y ago
  I'm interested to know the source of this figure. It sounds typical for a reported rental vacancy rate. Is this not just the percentage of available rentals that are not currently occupied? This would exclude things like second homes, homes on the market, homes being renovated, land-banked homes, etc. See Melbourne's Speculative Vacancies Report[0] for a comparison (in some years I've seen this report indicate that vacant properties in many areas are over 10%). [0] https://www.prosper.org.au/speculative-vacancy-reports/ https://www.prosper.org.au/speculative-vacancy-reports/ edit: I forget which year's report it was, but they did once find a very strong positive correlation between the rate of capital gains and empty properties. I.e. the stronger the capital gains in an area, the more likely properties were to be left empty.
ch4s3 4y ago
> BUT, why are thousands of buildings/units empty in NYC that have been empty for years with an outrageous rent? There are absolutely not thousands of buildings empty in NYC. It's also worth noting that there are 3.52 million housing units in NYC. As the other reply points out, rental vacancy is lower than 4%. However half of those are either being renovated or are rented/sold but not yet occupied. Of the 3.52 million housing units in NYC a paltry 103,000 (less than 0.2%) are pied-à-terres or seasonal/short-term rentals. On the much maligned Billionaire's Row there are some 350 empty condos. This line about "thousands of empty units" is a sort of innumerate argument made by DSA/Working Families Party types to oppose all new construction or up-zoning.

colinmhayes 4y ago

NYC vacancy is around 4%. It's effectively impossible to get below 3% due to people moving and renovations. The meme that the issue is vacant units is pretty much just straight up false. Yes, there are some luxury condos that are largely vacant, but those barely effect the rental prices of normal units other than maybe encouraging building luxury instead of normal housing.

tmnvix 4y ago
I'm interested to know the source of this figure. It sounds typical for a reported rental vacancy rate. Is this not just the percentage of available rentals that are not currently occupied? This would exclude things like second homes, homes on the market, homes being renovated, land-banked homes, etc. See Melbourne's Speculative Vacancies Report[0] for a comparison (in some years I've seen this report indicate that vacant properties in many areas are over 10%). [0] https://www.prosper.org.au/speculative-vacancy-reports/ https://www.prosper.org.au/speculative-vacancy-reports/ edit: I forget which year's report it was, but they did once find a very strong positive correlation between the rate of capital gains and empty properties. I.e. the stronger the capital gains in an area, the more likely properties were to be left empty.

ch4s3 4y ago

> BUT, why are thousands of buildings/units empty in NYC that have been empty for years with an outrageous rent? There are absolutely not thousands of buildings empty in NYC. It's also worth noting that there are 3.52 million housing units in NYC. As the other reply points out, rental vacancy is lower than 4%. However half of those are either being renovated or are rented/sold but not yet occupied. Of the 3.52 million housing units in NYC a paltry 103,000 (less than 0.2%) are pied-à-terres or seasonal/short-term rentals. On the much maligned Billionaire's Row there are some 350 empty condos. This line about "thousands of empty units" is a sort of innumerate argument made by DSA/Working Families Party types to oppose all new construction or up-zoning.