@icedquinn you got baited by leftie economic comprehension, in the vast majority of cases it's more worth it even for speculators to lend those houses out. Sure, they may gain value by sitting there, but they can earn more money and degrade not much faster when actually used. The empty housings you hear about are usually in bumfuck nowhere where people are running away from and literally nobody wants to buy them for any reasonable price, nor does anyone want to rent them.