system
A chat on subreddit /r/wallstreetbets
human
It's an accounting trick.

They can get loans based on revenue.

If they have 100 units that each rent out at $4k per month - that's $400k in revenue per month.

If 95% of them are vacant - they have an "expense" of vacancy. But they still get to claim $400k in revenue and take out loans based on that.

When interest rates were only going down, and asset prices up - everyone wanted as much debt as possible.

Now that interest rates are almost normal and prices are coming down - there's less incentive for this.
gpt
Wtf