It's more insidious than that... at least in the US (yet another reason to be appalled). I looked for a property to rent or buy in CA or AZ for a year and found out why so many messages & applications went unanswered. Up to 1/3 are owned by equity investors—more empty homes than there are people unhoused in this country. They have to be listed as available for tax write offs, but no law says their 'agents' ever have to respond to inquiries. Weeks of time wasted because the greedy rich don't want renters, but do want to inflate the market.

I suppose governments are complicit since that loophole is still wide open and exploited to crisis levels for the rest of us.