Not true, I wish it were.
Rent is limited by demand. In large urban areas it's not uncommon for renters to not pay for heat and water. The cost of repair, maintenance, upgrades is typically averaged out over a large number of units.
Any rental business that does not include its costs in its product price is doomed to fail.
It's not that simple. The critical factor is how many units you have to spread the cost over and what the market rent is in the area. Because of the condo conversion boom there are a huge number of rental units (owners can't sell for what they bought them for) that are on the market lowering the net rents that can be charged.
It's like any business that sees the demand for their product less because of over supply. You cut operating costs and wait for the supply to be eaten up.
Wm, I know you're not arguing for rental businesses to sell at below their operating costs. Costs is what limits any business. Rental businesses are not in business to provide lower than cost housing they can subsidize at their own expense. That is the limiting factor and not something like demand. Demand might force your price up or down, but if you start selling at less than cost, then you are a dutch uncle and not a business.
Also, an apartment with utilities rents for more than a similar apartment without. Why? Because of higher costs.
Is there competition in the marketplace? Sure. And if they are beating you so badly that you think you need to sell at below cost, then as a businessman, it's pretty clear that you overpaid for your buildings or some other cost(s) that you're covering.
And when push comes to shove, you still have something real and not just a piece of paper. It's like the difference between having gold coins in your safe deposit box at the bank and having gold mutual stocks. The first is real. The 2nd is a piece of paper.