With vacancy and short term rental rates rising that's just not true. They're raising prices because it makes sense for their business model and because they're operating in price cartels. The business model works because there's enough people who can afford it to cover costs on the rest of the units and have a profit still. The cartel works together to make sure there's no one undercutting with enough units to affect the market price.

Then they can go back to wall street and say they have x number of units worth y amount. Which is worth millions to the large rental corporations.

The idea of a million rental units all operating at market cost is outdated. It's more like 126 blocks of units with 8 of them at 100,000 and the rest spread between small landlords. It's the 8 blocks that set the market. Working together they're effectively a monopoly.

Renting black lists are another example of this. If you've ever taken your slum lord to court there is a chance the big corporations will never rent to you again. Which is like 90 percent of the market.