This is the problem. Rental stock isn't being added. Private residences are being built that are then bought up by private landlords rather than people who actu

This is the problem. Rental stock isn't being added. Private residences are being built that are then bought up by private landlords rather than people who actually want to live there. Private landlords then rent those properties out at a profit, because the yield is good enough for them to do so. This leaves fewer properties available to buy. You can argue about whether buying property is a good model or not: in lots of countries in Europe it's not considered the norm, but I'm talking specifically about the UK where it is. Having more rental properties here is fine, but it's also not necessarily what people here want: many people want to buy their homes, and it's better that they do so in a market that isn't skewed by private landlords mopping up large quantities of property. In some parts of the country, though as I've already acknowledged it's unclear to me that this applies to Cambridge, AirBnb (and holiday homes in a more general sense) are a significant contributor to a lack of available property for long-term residents, or people who want to be long-term residents.