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SpyCats OP t1_j9v4lzh wrote

Reply to comment by BaconNinja89 in Is this AirBnB situation allowed under Cambridge rules? by SpyCats

Yeah, actually they are. The owners are taking a single family home off the market during an insane housing shortage. AirBnBs are hurting cities around the world.

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ADarwinAward t1_j9vlwbl wrote

Yes in Barcelona, one of the cities with the worst short term rental problems in the world, this literally reached the point where there were 16k listings on Airbnb alone. It had an impact on housing affordability. People were renting homes to tourists instead of long term residents.

The issue with AirBnb, as you know (but some seem to not have figured out), is that what was once long-term residential housing becomes short term, hotel-like housing for tourists. It also often makes far more money than long term housing, which incentivizes real estate investors to buy up more and more units in the area to rent. Thus more and more supply is taken off the market for tourists, driving up rents for people in the city.

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dtmfadvice t1_j9vol78 wrote

This is a really good point.

(Off topic but it frustrates me when people understand this, then then around and say supply and demand doesn't apply to housing and that building new homes can't address the housing crisis. Or they say Airbnb is bad but also oppose new hotels. )

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