Why landlords leave storefronts empty instead of cutting rent: the math forces it (freerange.city)
A building isn't a building, it's an income stream. At a 5% cap rate, a $1M-a-year property is worth $20M; trim rent to $700K and its proven value falls to $14M — underwater against a $16M loan. Keeping the space empty preserves the fiction, and the owner's down payment.
The thread split on whether this is really banking math or just a regulatory artifact. One operator's blunt fix: tax landlords on whatever rent they claim the space is worth, occupied or not.
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