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.
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".