[neom]

In Toronto, as it has been explained to me by some banker types, in 2006 they introduced some pretty strong rent control, and developers just switched from building rentals to building condos, now Toronto has no rental units and a zillion condos that not many people can afford to buy or rent.^ Friend of mine lives in a condo and over half the units in his floor are now managed airbnbs.

^ Couple this situation with no restrictions (in fact encouragement) on foreign buyers for many many years, and you have condos sitting empty, condos rented out for amounts nobody can afford, and condos turning into airbnbs for rich tourists. From what I gather, both Toronto and Vancouver are a real mess because of this.

[voisin]

> friend of mine lives in a condo and over half the units in his floor are now managed airbnbs

This should change with the new Anti-AirBNB(Short term rental) rules at municipal, provincial, and federal (CRA) levels.

[infotainment]

…and it ends up being a cascade of new regulations to try and address the unforeseen consequences of the previous regulation. Eventually you end up like San Francisco where no new housing ever gets built ever again and prices are sky-high because of it.

[redserk]

But go too far in the other direction of not regulating enough, you also end up in the exact same spot.

[friend_and_foe]

Do we? How does that work?

[omnimus]

Yes. Most places have had unregulated property market like forever and are similary broken by speculation, collusion, price fixing and just exploitation of tenants.

The regulations actually attempts to answer this. They might not work well but atleast somebody is trying to do something.

The notion that if you got rid of the regulation and suddently situation would fix itself is suspiciously naive.

[osigurdson]

Doesn't that make it worse for people who want to rent AirBNBs?

I think the solution is to overbuild like crazy. Particularly in Canada where there is infinite land. People will be less interested in speculating as there is no supply limit. Cheap real estate is a net good for humanity.

[paulddraper]

So now fewer condos and apartments are produced.

Brilliant.