Why? Because apparently they need some more incentive to keep units occupied. Also, even though a property might be vacant, there’s still imputed rental income there. Its owner is just receiving it in the form of enjoying the unit for himself instead of receiving an actual rent check from a tenant. That imputed rent ought to be taxed like any other income.
This is for apartments only. For the most part I don’t believe corporations should own single family housing, with the exception of vacation homes and those numbers need to be booked up at least 50% of the year and there should be a cap on how many a corporation can own
I would do a tiered tax rate depending on vacancy for apartments.
Example 1% property tax if property is 95-100%
5% 80-94%
10% 60-79%
Etc etc
Absolutely punish the complexes that charge ridiculous rates while sitting at a 20% vacancy. I know plenty in my town that are doing exactly that. Charging $1500 for a small one bedroom apartment while all the units are sitting empty.
Reward the full ones with a low tax rate and punish the ones sitting on empty housing with a high rate.
Sounds like a nightmare to oversee and upkeep. Much easier to just make it easier for companies to build more housing so that there’s enough competition to drive prices down