> Prices going up would be neither natural nor artificial.

By artificial, I meant that the rental market would be distorted by Airbnb hosts.

Good example: a friend of mine had parents who loaned him money to qualify for a lease. He couldn't afford the lease, so he used Airbnb to make up the difference.

This meant that non-Airbnb hosts were now competing with Airbnb hosts for the same leases, which is what I was labeling "unnatural".

In fact, anything anyone does to earn extra income to afford a better home distorts housing prices. It'd have the same effect if they made the same money running a software consulting business in their extra bedroom.

Housing prices in desirable downtowns are mostly distortion these days. It's been a long time since they corresponded to the cost of construction.

This isn't "starting a software business" -- it's violating a lease.

Not everyone can or will take that risk.

In fact, many residential leases prohibit running a business out of the premises [0]. But these clauses are rarely enforced unless you're causing complaints.

[0] See clause 7 at https://cozy.co/blog/8-important-lease-clauses-for-landlords... for typical terms

I lived in a condo building that fined an owner $60k for 2 years of illegal Airbnb leasing (for a $300k condo).

I also had a friend who was evicted for leasing a rental.

Running a business out of the premises is rarely enforced, but it also rarely creates risk or loss for the landlord the way Airbnb does.

AirBnB is a new source of income for some, but its effect on market prices is the same as any other way of getting a higher income, like getting a higher salary. So I don't see this as market distortion either. It's just a more competitive market.

But it's still bad for other renters competing for spots, and there are all the other reasons neighbors don't like AirBnB.

> and there are all the other reasons neighbors don't like AirBnB.

Yeah like this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orinda_shooting