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There are really three things going on: secular inflation causing overall upward price trends, industry-specific restrictions on building housing in many places

There are really three things going on: secular inflation causing overall upward price trends, industry-specific restrictions on building housing in many places, and an increasing population. Each of these things should be discussed separately in order to have a productive conversation about the overall results of rents still going up quickly.

tonypags 3y ago
Really? The reasons you gave are perpetual. Don't you think that the real reason, in this moment in history, is that landlords are colluding on rents? If we enforced anti-competitive laws, and raised property taxes in the suburbs to a level commensurate with the maintenance costs of those areas' infrastructure, it would solve a lot of these problems.
- xtiansimon 3y ago
  > “Don't you think that the real reason, in this moment in history, is that landlords are colluding on rents?” The lawsuit that could shake up the rental market [1] AirBandB Hedge fund investing in real estate To name a few https://www.npr.org/2024/01/11/1197961038/the-indicator-from-planet-money-realpage-antitrust-lawsuit-01-11-2024 https://www.npr.org/2024/01/11/1197961038/the-indicator-from...
- HDThoreaun 3y ago
  Not generally, no. Certainly some areas are experiencing landlord collusion, but in general colluding is extremely difficult as a landlord because rental properties are so decentralized. Nowhere in the US do we have anything like berlin where 3 companies own the majority of units. The sheer amount of collaboration required to collude when there are thousands of suppliers makes it very unlikely in most cases.
  - Nifty3929 3y ago
    I agree with you - though one mechanism for implied and unintended collusion would be rental pricing services that are widely used by landlords and might cause prices to converge or be self-reinforcing. I don't believe this argument, but I do think it merits consideration and counterargument. That is, it needn't be explicit collusion where thousands of landlords get together - it might just be because they're all using the same price forecasting service.

tonypags 3y ago

Really? The reasons you gave are perpetual. Don't you think that the real reason, in this moment in history, is that landlords are colluding on rents? If we enforced anti-competitive laws, and raised property taxes in the suburbs to a level commensurate with the maintenance costs of those areas' infrastructure, it would solve a lot of these problems.

xtiansimon 3y ago
> “Don't you think that the real reason, in this moment in history, is that landlords are colluding on rents?” The lawsuit that could shake up the rental market [1] AirBandB Hedge fund investing in real estate To name a few https://www.npr.org/2024/01/11/1197961038/the-indicator-from-planet-money-realpage-antitrust-lawsuit-01-11-2024 https://www.npr.org/2024/01/11/1197961038/the-indicator-from...
HDThoreaun 3y ago
Not generally, no. Certainly some areas are experiencing landlord collusion, but in general colluding is extremely difficult as a landlord because rental properties are so decentralized. Nowhere in the US do we have anything like berlin where 3 companies own the majority of units. The sheer amount of collaboration required to collude when there are thousands of suppliers makes it very unlikely in most cases.
- Nifty3929 3y ago
  I agree with you - though one mechanism for implied and unintended collusion would be rental pricing services that are widely used by landlords and might cause prices to converge or be self-reinforcing. I don't believe this argument, but I do think it merits consideration and counterargument. That is, it needn't be explicit collusion where thousands of landlords get together - it might just be because they're all using the same price forecasting service.