It’s a huge up-front cost, and a major pain to move - can’t just huck it in the back of your sedan; you’d quite possibly need to pay someone to move it, or have to rend equipment to do so. You’d also have to sell it at a loss, or even worse just throw it out, when you inevitably move someplace already furnished with one.

An apartment owner clearly already has sufficient capital, and the appliance would never need to be moved or sold.