Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rental market were right

Re:Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rent... by JMTQp8lwXL on Saturday March 21, 2020 @11:06PM (#22652351)

Free markets are a good thing. We can see the prevention of a truly free market through onerous zoning policies that prevent new housing starts in high-demand areas. Preventing people from building, or hosting short-term housing, is all impedance on free markets and their distortionary effects are worse than a VRBO guest that forgets to move the trash can to the end of the driveway. To counter your point, it's equally possible can have a long-term terrible neighbor -- maybe they are loud, or don't maintain their property and it's lowering your property value, and there isn't much you can do about it.

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Re:Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rent... by heavyset_go on Saturday March 21, 2020 @11:23PM (#22652449)

> Free markets are a good thing.

And yet a free market has never existed.

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Re:Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rent... by JMTQp8lwXL on Saturday March 21, 2020 @11:35PM (#22652505)

And look what's happened to the housing market. Look at homeownership rates for 25-35's now vs. 40 years ago. There are some issues.

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Re:Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rent... by gamblor956 on Sunday March 22, 2020 @03:58AM (#22653449)

What's happening in the housing market right now is the result of the free market.

Market forces made housing expensive at a faster pace than regulatory changes. There are simply many more people now in their 25s-35s than there were 40 years ago, more dual-income households, and more costs (i.e., college) associated with landing the high-paying jobs than there were 40 years ago when you could get a 6-figure job with full health benefits and a pension at a factory without being able to read or write.

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Re:Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rent... by fidelramos on Sunday March 22, 2020 @07:01AM (#22654096)

> What's happening in the housing market right now is the result of the free market.

Absolutely not. A fundamental requirement for a free market is to avoid barriers of entry to competition as much as possible. In the real estate market there are way too many barriers of entry to be considered even remotely free:

- Zoning laws

- Construction permits

- Licenses (realtor, construction, architects...)

- All kinds of taxes

So no, real estate has never been a free market. The blame for today's problems lies with governments' intervention and regulation.

Edit: formatting

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Re:Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rent... by swiley on Sunday March 22, 2020 @10:12AM (#22655028)

No it absolutely isn’t. Developers are not being allowed to construct high density housing. One of the last bits of local politics I heard before moving away from my home town was some drama about a developer not being able to build an apartment building because it would “mess up the character that the local home owners bought their property for.” This happens consistently across the US and many people say that’s why about half the homeless people can’t afford a place to live.

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Re:Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rent... by gedy on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:32AM (#22652746)

Yes, but a lot of that is delaying marriage and having children. Some part of that is economic, some part is choice/culture.

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Re:Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rent... by dnautics on Sunday March 22, 2020 @03:25AM (#22653320)

A lot of it is the fed lowering rates which increases the returns to existing capital and drives prices upwards. It's almost like the older generation is taking out a mortgage on the future of the younger generation.... Oh wait. No, that's exactly what it is!

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Re:Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rent... by jachee on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:40AM (#22652773)

And likely the one (the economics of education and health costs, largely) driving the other.

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Re:Turns out claims Airbnb was taking houses out of the rent... by amelius on Saturday March 21, 2020 @11:11PM (#22652369)

> Free markets are a good thing.

Out of curiosity, what do you think of net neutrality?

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