4 ms·

This is why you need rent control. 100% of this price hike is going into landlord's pockets, it's not a result of inflation.

settrans 4y ago
Indeed! What we need is a wealth transfer from new residents paying _even higher_ market prices to legacy tenants grandfathered in to apartments that landlords have no incentive to maintain.
asciiresort 4y ago
How has that worked out for San Francisco ?
wil421 4y ago
Rent control doesn’t work. Sane zoning laws and higher density housing should help.
ChuckNorris89 4y ago
How did that work for Berlin? Try moving there today and tell me how affordable it is for newcomers. Rent control is basically subsidizing existing grandfathered tenants by fleecing those new wishing to move in, without fixing the underlying housing shortage in any way. The solution is always, always, having (building) more supply than the demand, yet nobody seems to get it.
- teakettle42 4y ago
  What if you literally cannot build more supply than the demand? What if there’s a feedback loop between building more supply and increased (induced) demand?
  - ChuckNorris89 4y ago
    I don't think this applies to Berlin yet, it's not an island or locked by mountains. You can also build up. Let's not kid ourselves, real estate prices there are insane due to monetary policies, bureaucracy and NIMBYism restricting building/supply for a million reasons, and not due to the lack of real estate in that area.
- grapeskin 4y ago
  Damn, are rents in Berlin over 5000 euros/5000 dollars? Must be nuts.
  - ChuckNorris89 4y ago
    What does the 5000$ mark have to do with it? Just because rents in Berlin are not as high as downtown Manhattan, doesn't mean they're not overpriced for Berlin wages, especially since skilled and middle class wages in Berlin are nowhere near what they are in Manhattan, so this apples to oranges 5000$ mark is meaningless for your snarky attempt at an argument.
  - mcntsh 4y ago
    No, but there basically aren't any apartments on the market, and the ones left are twice the price they costed a few years ago.
  - acchow 4y ago
    Median Household income in Manhattan is $117k. In Berlin, it is $59k.
- cpascal 4y ago
  > The solution is always, always, having (building) more supply than the demand, yet nobody seems to get it. It is easy to hand wave "more building supply", but that's a medium to long term solution. What do we do in the short term? Are we supposed to just allow landlords to hike people's rent anywhere between 10-40% year-over-year forcing them to be displaced? There needs to be some middle ground.
  - ChuckNorris89 4y ago
    >It is easy to hand wave "more building supply", but that's a medium to long term solution. YES! It's the long term solution which if it were implemented in a timely manner in the past, would have saved us today, but even though we are in a mess today, it's not being implemented even to this day due to bureaucracy, NIMBYism and various political issues which beat around the bush, instead of saying it straight: "Build more today so we can live easier tomorrow!" >What do we do in the short term? Also, build more. If you don't build in the short term, there will be no long term.
Aunche 4y ago
Rent control only helps people who already have a home and want to stay there forever. Everyone else loses because there are few vacancies. This means less job mobility, more difficulty recovering after being evicted, and less development, which further exacerbates the rent problem. > 100% of this price hike is going into landlord's pockets This is true, and the solution to this is a land-value-tax and to use that to offset the city's sales tax, which disproportionately impacts the poor. Hell, it would probably be enough if the city just assessed property taxes more accurately. My TL was bragging about his home being assessed at $800k, when it's easily worth $2M.
cgdub 4y ago
NYC already has rent control. It's why rents are $5k. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_control_in_New_York https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_control_in_New_York

settrans 4y ago

Indeed! What we need is a wealth transfer from new residents paying _even higher_ market prices to legacy tenants grandfathered in to apartments that landlords have no incentive to maintain.

asciiresort 4y ago

How has that worked out for San Francisco ?

wil421 4y ago

Rent control doesn’t work. Sane zoning laws and higher density housing should help.

ChuckNorris89 4y ago

How did that work for Berlin? Try moving there today and tell me how affordable it is for newcomers. Rent control is basically subsidizing existing grandfathered tenants by fleecing those new wishing to move in, without fixing the underlying housing shortage in any way. The solution is always, always, having (building) more supply than the demand, yet nobody seems to get it.

teakettle42 4y ago
What if you literally cannot build more supply than the demand? What if there’s a feedback loop between building more supply and increased (induced) demand?
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  I don't think this applies to Berlin yet, it's not an island or locked by mountains. You can also build up. Let's not kid ourselves, real estate prices there are insane due to monetary policies, bureaucracy and NIMBYism restricting building/supply for a million reasons, and not due to the lack of real estate in that area.
grapeskin 4y ago
Damn, are rents in Berlin over 5000 euros/5000 dollars? Must be nuts.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  What does the 5000$ mark have to do with it? Just because rents in Berlin are not as high as downtown Manhattan, doesn't mean they're not overpriced for Berlin wages, especially since skilled and middle class wages in Berlin are nowhere near what they are in Manhattan, so this apples to oranges 5000$ mark is meaningless for your snarky attempt at an argument.
- mcntsh 4y ago
  No, but there basically aren't any apartments on the market, and the ones left are twice the price they costed a few years ago.
- acchow 4y ago
  Median Household income in Manhattan is $117k. In Berlin, it is $59k.
cpascal 4y ago
> The solution is always, always, having (building) more supply than the demand, yet nobody seems to get it. It is easy to hand wave "more building supply", but that's a medium to long term solution. What do we do in the short term? Are we supposed to just allow landlords to hike people's rent anywhere between 10-40% year-over-year forcing them to be displaced? There needs to be some middle ground.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  >It is easy to hand wave "more building supply", but that's a medium to long term solution. YES! It's the long term solution which if it were implemented in a timely manner in the past, would have saved us today, but even though we are in a mess today, it's not being implemented even to this day due to bureaucracy, NIMBYism and various political issues which beat around the bush, instead of saying it straight: "Build more today so we can live easier tomorrow!" >What do we do in the short term? Also, build more. If you don't build in the short term, there will be no long term.

Aunche 4y ago

Rent control only helps people who already have a home and want to stay there forever. Everyone else loses because there are few vacancies. This means less job mobility, more difficulty recovering after being evicted, and less development, which further exacerbates the rent problem. > 100% of this price hike is going into landlord's pockets This is true, and the solution to this is a land-value-tax and to use that to offset the city's sales tax, which disproportionately impacts the poor. Hell, it would probably be enough if the city just assessed property taxes more accurately. My TL was bragging about his home being assessed at $800k, when it's easily worth $2M.

cgdub 4y ago

NYC already has rent control. It's why rents are $5k. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_control_in_New_York https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_control_in_New_York