[codingbot3000]

Good points.

All variants of rent control etc. have been tried in Europe and have miserably failed. Quite the opposite, rents have been rising even more, and new construction has been reduced due to new politically induced risks.

Examples: Berlin, Barcelona

But as Barcelona shows, there is a feedback loop benefiting leftist populist politicians:

Higher rents, lower housing supply -> people frustrated -> leftist populists get more votes -> more stupid regulation -> even higher rents, even lower housing supply -> people more frustrated -> ...

This can go on for at least two electoral cycles.

[jijijijij]

Berlin never really had rent control. It's been a few months before the law was abolished for constitutional technicalities. Everybody knew this was a possibility, so you can't make any conclusions about it. Bringing it up is pure propaganda. Nothing failed economically!

We have a federal law which in theory could slow down price progression, but it is rarely applied. It also doesn't govern newly build apartments, so criticism usually falls short there too...

[schnitzelstoat]

Stockholm too.

But they always think this time it'll be different I guess.