[astrange]

> very real phenomena like gentrification

He wrote a famous post years ago about gentrification prevention called "yuppie fishbowl theory".

Gentrification is caused by blocking infill development that adds new units. That's what causes existing units to get replaced.

> but in the event that prices increase all over the place due to cartel-like behavior (spoiler - this happens often)

That doesn't happen, landlords cannot enforce a cartel and are not motivated to.

Cartels are enforced in housing /by governments/ - they are what zoning laws are intended to do. And they're the only way it can happen because they have legal force. Upzoning an area is defeating a cartel.

[immibis]

Replacing units is what causes units to get replaced. We can look upstream of that to see why landlords choose to replace units (probably the reason you cited), but we shouldn't miss the trees for the forest either.