There are places not experiencing a housing shortage that are still seeing rents go up. When a sizable portion of the landed gentry decide to band together to do price fixing, supply doesn’t matter.
Supply and demand don’t follow closely in the American market. There is a lot of collusion happening.
Yes even if they keep some places empty, which is a cost, they can more than make up for it.
Say you have an apartment with 50 units. If you can keep 25 empty but charge double for the rest, it's all good. Plus the empty ones are not undergoing any wear and tear. It would be more profitable if the place had just 25 units that were all occupied, but what the hell.
Supply and demand don’t follow closely in the American market. There is a lot of collusion happening.