– how can rent be so high when there are so many listings? Shouldn’t competition drive it down?

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Searching for apartments in the LA area – there are 558 listings on zillow in westside LA under 2k$. Many are within blocks of each other, lots are units in the same building. With so much inventory, shouldn’t market forces cause some landlord to lower the rent? Does the economic theory of supply and demand not apply for the housing market?

In: Economics

15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Some ideas that come to mind.

If it were 558 individuals, it is a competition. If it was 1 corporation showing 558 lisitings it is not a competition.

Corporate landlords can survive even if a small fraction of competition lowers prices. Soon those will be taken and then they can raise prices as result of scarcity.

TLDR; Greed

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