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In a city of any size, holding one unit on or off the market is not going to affect the overall price. It's in the landlord's interest to rent it out rather than have it vacant.

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Some tenants aren't worth the rent, so it is in the landlord's interest to find reasonable tenants rather than have it vacant, but you don't want to take someone as a tenant who will trash the place and then not pay rent for several months until they are evicted. Additional laws can make who to accept as a tenant even more stringent. For example, if you make below 80% of median income in Seattle, landlords have to pay your relocation costs if you raise rent more than 10% in one year. This means not many landlords are interested in renting to anyone who makes less than 80% of median income anymore.

The landlord feels that he's losing money by renting it out at a lower costs, so he holds out for more.

I used small numbers for the sake of example, scaled up to a city it'd represent 10% of the city's housing stock sitting empty.

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