6 ms·

I showed up in SF last year to find airbnb had ads criticizing local tax laws all around town. Disgusting. They are the heart and soul of why SF sucks to live i

by duaneb 10y ago

I showed up in SF last year to find airbnb had ads criticizing local tax laws all around town. Disgusting. They are the heart and soul of why SF sucks to live in. Not terribly smart use of money, either, compared to growing markets where the brand is actually viewed favorably.

zip1234 10y ago
Housing shortage is what makes prices high. AirBnB is not why prices are high or why there is a housing shortage.
- subpixel 10y ago
  At least in NYC AirBnB is indeed why it is much, much harder to rent an apartment at the low/middle end of the market. Couples who move in together don't free up an apt - they rent it on AirBnB. To say nothing of landlords who don't replace tenants in order to do the same.
  - jrockway 10y ago
    This means their rent is too low, right? If they can make money by being a middleman, it means people are willing to pay more than what the landlord priced the apartment at. (I bet in NYC the brokers are to blame for this; they make the cost of moving very high.)
    - subpixel 10y ago
      No - it means you can charge more to rent by the week than by the year, because tourists are willing to part with more money as part of the experience of visiting a place. It makes little sense to peg residential rent to what the tourist market will bear.
    - linkregister 10y ago
      This sort of comparison isn't apt. The benefit to the city for improved tourism is more than outweighed by the jobs unfulfilled by workers who couldn't find a place to move into the city.
  - curun1r 10y ago
    But they can only do that because there is an existing housing shortage. You can say that AirBnB exacerbates and existing housing shortage, but it doesn't create one in the first place since the financial incentives aren't there to get creative in the ways you're describing. And reactions to crowded housing markets don't help either. For example, rent control can become such a nightmare for a landlord that making an equivalent amount of rent through AirBnB can be very attractive despite how much more work it is to rent out that way. FWIW, my parents rent out an extra building on their property using AirBnB. They're retired and they view it as their job now, but I see it more like a hobby. The amount of work they have to put in to make around $30k/yr is substantial and they'd almost certainly do better renting to a full-time tenant and getting part-time jobs. But they're in a location that doesn't have a housing shortage. It's only because people can make a lot more money that they rent on AirBnB.
    - subpixel 10y ago
      I disagree. Pre-AirBnB there was an affordable hotel shortage in NYC. Now there is something like an affordable housing shortage. The root cause is a tool - AirBnB - that has enabled (triggered?) a massive increase in tourism by making it financially advantageous to take housing stock off the market.

by duaneb 10y ago

zip1234 10y ago

Housing shortage is what makes prices high. AirBnB is not why prices are high or why there is a housing shortage.

subpixel 10y ago
At least in NYC AirBnB is indeed why it is much, much harder to rent an apartment at the low/middle end of the market. Couples who move in together don't free up an apt - they rent it on AirBnB. To say nothing of landlords who don't replace tenants in order to do the same.
- jrockway 10y ago
  This means their rent is too low, right? If they can make money by being a middleman, it means people are willing to pay more than what the landlord priced the apartment at. (I bet in NYC the brokers are to blame for this; they make the cost of moving very high.)
  - subpixel 10y ago
    No - it means you can charge more to rent by the week than by the year, because tourists are willing to part with more money as part of the experience of visiting a place. It makes little sense to peg residential rent to what the tourist market will bear.
  - linkregister 10y ago
    This sort of comparison isn't apt. The benefit to the city for improved tourism is more than outweighed by the jobs unfulfilled by workers who couldn't find a place to move into the city.
- curun1r 10y ago
  But they can only do that because there is an existing housing shortage. You can say that AirBnB exacerbates and existing housing shortage, but it doesn't create one in the first place since the financial incentives aren't there to get creative in the ways you're describing. And reactions to crowded housing markets don't help either. For example, rent control can become such a nightmare for a landlord that making an equivalent amount of rent through AirBnB can be very attractive despite how much more work it is to rent out that way. FWIW, my parents rent out an extra building on their property using AirBnB. They're retired and they view it as their job now, but I see it more like a hobby. The amount of work they have to put in to make around $30k/yr is substantial and they'd almost certainly do better renting to a full-time tenant and getting part-time jobs. But they're in a location that doesn't have a housing shortage. It's only because people can make a lot more money that they rent on AirBnB.
  - subpixel 10y ago
    I disagree. Pre-AirBnB there was an affordable hotel shortage in NYC. Now there is something like an affordable housing shortage. The root cause is a tool - AirBnB - that has enabled (triggered?) a massive increase in tourism by making it financially advantageous to take housing stock off the market.