logoalt Hacker News

throwaway2037 • today at 6:37 AM • 2 replies • view on HN

    > 1. there are 57,000 unoccupied apartments in NYC because city regulations on rents make them unprofitable to rent out.
The correct quote should be:

    > According to state data, approximately 57,421 rent-stabilized apartments were vacant across New York City
The key term here is "rent-stabilized". And the reasons why they are vacant is much more complex "because city regulations on rents make them unprofitable to rent out". That is simply one category of rent-stabilized apartments that are vacant.

Replies

laughing_man • today at 10:06 AM

I don't think it's much more complicated than that. If you own a "rent-stabilized" apartment there's going to be a very low limit to the amount of money you're willing to spend to keep it habitable. If it needs a lot of money to make it legal to rent out, you're just going to leave it vacant. You don't really have a choice.

AnthonyMouse • today at 7:29 AM

> And the reasons why they are vacant is much more complex "because city regulations on rents make them unprofitable to rent out".

Is it actually more complex than that? If the regulation that makes it unprofitable to rent them out is rent control, that's still an accurate statement of why they're not being rented out.