[afuchs]

Louis Rossmann has a video series of his rants about commercial real estate and the refusal of landlords to rent spaces to him which have been vacant for multiple years.

One of his videos speculates that real estate is being used to store money and the building owners don't want to rent out anything:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yavgfk0IjdM

Another video speculates that the owners of some buildings have made claims to banks and investors that their buildings are worth more than these buildings are actually worth. In this situation, if the buildings' owners lowered rents they would be admitting that the building is not worth as much as they claim. This could trigger contractual obligations they have with their mortgages and investors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdfmMB1E_qk

[derlvative]

This is empty speculation. And it can be trivially refuted by noticing that vacancy rates are at record lows.

[afuchs]

> This is empty speculation. And it can be trivially refuted by noticing that vacancy rates are at record lows.

His rants were prompted by his failed attempts to rent out specific vacant storefronts in NYC and that those exact storefronts have sat vacant for more than 10 years at the time he made his videos.

This is similar to my experience living in a smaller city where there are similar vacant and rundown properties a short walk away from where I live. Notably, these vacant properties are owned by commercial landlords who have a reputation for refusing to sign leases, or quoting "fuck off" prices, with small businesses.

[bluGill]

record low vacancy is a statement about the country not any individual situation which might be different from the national situation.