[bilekas]

When I was living in Dublin Ireland, I was paying 1500 EUR a month for a one bedroom appartment, nothing special but expensive, the landlord say he was not going to renew the contract because he was going to change it to an AirBnB.

I met him a few months later and he was telling me he was making over 4000 a month. I can't blame the landlords in this case.. It's obviously the better option for them, even as the article suggests, the landlords can afford to have the locations close during the `off-season` because there is so much money to be made.

Some regulation around the pricing would be nice, but I have no idea how you would even navigate doing that.

[yieldcrv]

I’ve been to far too many cities and every city the locals are blaming some external person for their housing/rent problem

An external person they want to be mad at when they think of them

But they’re all missing their neighbors: the individual non-corporate landlords who they could actually put peer pressure on more effectively

Landlords could always have gambled on the highest possible rent and it has nearly nothing to do with the recent influx, they can always just as easily not attempt the highest possible price. The wealthier visitors always had the funds to afford the higher prices, and can afford even higher prices than today, double, triple whatever is in the back of your mind. The wealthier people don't care if the presented rent in your area is $500 or $5000, most of them will accept what is presented.

[shever73]

The rents here in Dublin are crazy! I honestly don't know how people can afford to rent, which is tragic because we also have an entire generation who cannot afford to buy.

In my apartment complex, AirBnB and short-term rentals are technically forbidden, but people still do it if they feel they can get away with it.

[unmole]

> Some regulation around the pricing would be nice,

Economists of every school and political affiliation will tell you that rent controls are a terrible idea.

[barbazoo]

What's their practical alternative though? People need housing.

[kobalsky]

incentivize development and don't let companies and people hoard residential properties through taxes tailored for that.

so, you if want to rent, build first.

[chociej]

One approach I've heard of that specifically addresses short-term rentals is to limit the number or density of such units within a city or a particular district.

[unmole]

Here's a radical idea: Build more housing.

[em-bee]

seems to work in germany. they have rent control nationwide

[ChuckNorris89]

Need to ban AirBnB not implement rent control.

Rent control has the efect of locking people in and reducing mobility, favoring those already in the market at the expense of those looking to get in to the market.

The obvious solution is to build more.

[em-bee]

how does rent control lock people in? only if moving is not possible without raising rent. effective rent control is about preventing excessive rent, not about preventing the raise of rent to existing tenants.

as far as i can tell, the effect of rent control in germany is mostly that similar properties cost a similar rent which does not prevent people from moving, because they are not risking an increase just because of the move.

[ChuckNorris89]

It prevents people outside of the rent control area from moving into it because they'll have to pay prices way way higher.

Just look at Berlin. Try moving there now and see what options are available to you.

[em-bee]

how would additional supply fix that? there is no space in the city to build more. additional supply would happen at the edges, where most people do not want to move until the area is sufficiently developed, and there are local jobs too.

a more desirable area will always be more expensive. rent control allows to keep that in check, no control will mean that even if there is enough supply elsewhere, those more desirable areas will remain expensive. rent control is needed to prevent gentrification too.

[unmole]

https://fee.org/articles/berlin-s-disastrous-rent-control-la...

[em-bee]

that is about an additional more restrictive form of rent control on top of the already existing nationwide rent-control laws:

"The court ruled on Thursday that the Berlin government had overstepped its powers in introducing the law, as federal law governing rents was already in place."

this does not support an argument against rent control in general, but only against outright freezing rents in place which is what this law tried to do.

the stories about landlords getting around the rent limit by charging extra for furniture are also not helping the argument because the law covered that too, so they were effectively breaking the law. the only argument that is valid is the fact that less units were available for rent, showing that this particular law didn't work. but again, this does not prove that rent-control on general is bad.

german rent-control generally means that rent may not be charged higher than about 20% of the average rent in an area. this means that rents are still somewhat flexible and they can rise, but not excessively so.

[looping__lui]

Rent control in Germany also fixed the housing shortage and creates great incentives for new construction. In 2022, Germany had a record in new apartment and buildings finished - 2023 will probably even better. The new ECB interest regime of 4+% actually had very limited effect on the market in this respect thanks to rent control.

Like honestly, rent control is just beyond dumb. There are like 1000 ways that actually solve the problem - but unfortunately they require cities and bureaucrats to work instead of just passing a law. Supply and demand. If it takes LONGER to get a building permit that to actually build a housing complex… When cities are not planning ahead creating new space (argh, infrastructure, public transportation, this sounds like work…

[em-bee]

i am a bit confused. rent control in germany works, but then you are arguing against it?

actually i disagree that simply allowing to build enough property will work. businesses tend to charge as much as they can, and if we want actual competition in rent prices, then the supply would have to vastly exceed the demand and not just meet it. with all the best intentions, that is not going to happen, and i don't think it is desirable either.

excessive prices need to be prevented either way.

[surgical_fire]

No need to control rent.

Just ban AirBnb and other short term rental schemes in residential buildings.

Tourists should stay in buildings designed as such (i.e.: Hotels)

[carlosjobim]

You can really blame him. He is destroying his own community, by destroying the future of young locals, for short-term gains - greed. Then he will have to move somewhere else, and probably destroy that community too. Like a plague.