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> But you can just go on "blocket" and rent an apartment in a similar manner. Yes, but these are not rent-controlled apartments! These are second-hand apartmen

> But you can just go on "blocket" and rent an apartment in a similar manner. Yes, but these are not rent-controlled apartments! These are second-hand apartments or houses that you rent from someone who either owns the place, or is already renting it from someone else. You are paying market rates for these, not rent-controlled rates. Deregulation that allows people to rent out homes they own or rent is what has allowed this market to grow in the past few years, this is the very opposite of rent control! I started this subthread to argue that rent control is shit, it has shit consequences, it has shit second-order consequences, it has shit third-order consequences. Maybe Stockholm isn't a shining example of how shit it is these days since deregulation and condo-conversions have effectively removed a lot of rent controlled stock, but that just proves my point!

njepa 8y ago
No one should expect the rent controlled part of the Stockholm housing market to work as it is essentially defunct. 1. Subsidies for building rent controlled units were removed. 2. Publicly owned apartments were sold at below market value. Meaning those who already owned apartments got a discount in the market. 3. The profits weren't used to build new apartments, but to lower taxes. 4. Co-ops were favored by keeping deductions for mortgages, creating new ones for renovations. 5. Property taxes were removed for co-ops. 6. Credit remained largely unregulated and was then regulated to a hundred years. 7. Interest rates are being kept low by the central bank. 8. Taxes were lowered in general. Of course this new market will never be able to produce affordable housing, so the rent controlled market doesn't "work". The whole thing is set to implode though. Already if you bought an apartment ~"two years ago" you have now lost your down payment.

njepa 8y ago

No one should expect the rent controlled part of the Stockholm housing market to work as it is essentially defunct. 1. Subsidies for building rent controlled units were removed. 2. Publicly owned apartments were sold at below market value. Meaning those who already owned apartments got a discount in the market. 3. The profits weren't used to build new apartments, but to lower taxes. 4. Co-ops were favored by keeping deductions for mortgages, creating new ones for renovations. 5. Property taxes were removed for co-ops. 6. Credit remained largely unregulated and was then regulated to a hundred years. 7. Interest rates are being kept low by the central bank. 8. Taxes were lowered in general. Of course this new market will never be able to produce affordable housing, so the rent controlled market doesn't "work". The whole thing is set to implode though. Already if you bought an apartment ~"two years ago" you have now lost your down payment.