With rents and home prices skyrocketing in the Grand Canyon State, renters received some relief as the state Legislature’s repeal of the residential rental tax went into effect on New Year’s Day. According to Arizona State University, rents have skyrocketed by 72% recently, partly because of a statewide housing shortage of over 65,000 units. Rather than address the real causes of rent price hikes, many politicians would instead find a scapegoat, which is precisely what Attorney General Kris Mayes has done.Mayes has filed a lawsuit against several Arizona landlords, alleging that they used a rent management software service called RealPage to form an apartment cartel. She claimed the cartel was responsible for a “large part” of the 30% increase in Arizona rents over the past two years. In theory, the cartel works by holding vacant units off the market until they fetch elevated rents.
Kevin Erdmann
There are several problems with this theory.
Rental vacancy rates in Arizona have averaged about 10% since 1986. However, construction of new homes …
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