Rather than lowering rents, landlords are offering more freebies than ever to retain tenants or attract new ones. In Manhattan, cash gifts for tenantsâtypically used for kitting out new office spaceâhave more than doubled since 2016. Across America, the average number of rent-free months has risen to its highest since 2013. Some property developers remain optimistic, betting that demand for office space will eventually bounce back. But with each new variant of covid-19, plans for a wide-scale return to the office have been delayed, and delayed again. And changing patterns of attendance look set to reduce the overall demand for space.
the true cost is having even less of an excuse to house the homeless
But with each new variant of covid-19, plans for a wide-scale return to the office have been delayed, and delayed again.
:covid-cool: :wholesome:
:mao-aggro-shining:
Rather than lowering rents
They canât. I mean, they literally canât lower rents. They are never, ever coming down. Ever. Not even after a 10 year depression where the building sits empty. âWell theyâd rather lower the rent and get a tenant than keep the rent too high and get nothing.â Thatâs where youâre wrong, bucko.
Once upon a time, this was true. But today, there are a whole host of financial instruments that base themselves on the rent price. Lower the rent, and a chain reaction of negative events occurs. Property owners are leveraged up to the hilt. They borrow as much as they can against their properties to invest in other ventures. If the rent goes down, theyâd have to actually pay for their properties, and that must never be allowed to happen.
Every day, Marxâs articulation of the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall makes him look more and more like he was a time traveler who just happened to see how capitalism played out then went to the 19th century to write about it.
honestly that sometimes makes the most sense to me because its hard to believe one man could have so much natural insight.
That would be a cool sci-fi story. Something like 11/22/63 but in reverse, it would mostly be historical fiction about Marxâs drunken shenanigans with a backdrop of his desperate attempt (writing the manifesto and Capital etc) to save the world from the future he came from, only to ultimately have us wind up back where we are now.
I cover this stuff in the press (boo hiss) and youâre 100% right. this is a battle to the death for office owners, and their banks. No one could handle having to actually pay for all of this real estate.
:sicko-yes:
