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If there was no rent control/stabilization artificially limiting housing supply, AirBNB would not be an issue. A big part of the "problem" is simple arbitrage b

If there was no rent control/stabilization artificially limiting housing supply, AirBNB would not be an issue. A big part of the "problem" is simple arbitrage between very cheap subsidized rents and prices the tourist market can bear.

xenadu02 12y ago
You can certainly say that about San Francisco and the strong anti-building sentiments here, but in New York City?
- bkeroack 12y ago
  NYC has a strong history of rent regulations. It's part of the reason it's so absurdly difficult to find housing.
warfangle 12y ago
Rent control is moot, there are less than 1000 rent controlled units, and as their tenants leave they cease to be rent controlled. Without rent stabilization, even with a decent job in tech, I would be commuting 2 hours each way (or sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with 5 other people) instead of 35 minutes. If rent reflected current building sale trends in my neighborhood, my rent would be increasing >60% year over year.
- bkeroack 12y ago
  "If rent reflected current building sale trends in my neighborhood, my rent would be increasing >60% year over year." OK, sure that would suck for you, but it's what the market is doing. Artificial price ceilings restrict supply and create arbitrage opportunities. Living in Manhattan is not a human right.
  - warfangle 12y ago
    I live 35 minutes away from Manhattan (on a good day) in Brooklyn, on the border of Queens. Is your conjecture that rent stabilization drives rent prices up confirmed by anything but randroidian theory? I have a feeling that luxury units laying vacant, purchased in a cash-only private deal, do more to drive up the price of housing than rent stabilization. That, by the way, is a vast majority of investment in new housing stock in NYC. Some buildings cut a deal with the city to get tax breaks for providing 20% of the units as stabilized. If rent were fully deregulated: good luck finding someone willing to travel three hours to work in a midtown office for peanuts (or, for that matter, in any job other than finance). Do you have any non speculative examples of full deregulation actually increasing the stock of affordable, safe, up-to-code housing in a growing city?

xenadu02 12y ago

You can certainly say that about San Francisco and the strong anti-building sentiments here, but in New York City?

bkeroack 12y ago
NYC has a strong history of rent regulations. It's part of the reason it's so absurdly difficult to find housing.

warfangle 12y ago

Rent control is moot, there are less than 1000 rent controlled units, and as their tenants leave they cease to be rent controlled. Without rent stabilization, even with a decent job in tech, I would be commuting 2 hours each way (or sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with 5 other people) instead of 35 minutes. If rent reflected current building sale trends in my neighborhood, my rent would be increasing >60% year over year.

bkeroack 12y ago
"If rent reflected current building sale trends in my neighborhood, my rent would be increasing >60% year over year." OK, sure that would suck for you, but it's what the market is doing. Artificial price ceilings restrict supply and create arbitrage opportunities. Living in Manhattan is not a human right.
- warfangle 12y ago
  I live 35 minutes away from Manhattan (on a good day) in Brooklyn, on the border of Queens. Is your conjecture that rent stabilization drives rent prices up confirmed by anything but randroidian theory? I have a feeling that luxury units laying vacant, purchased in a cash-only private deal, do more to drive up the price of housing than rent stabilization. That, by the way, is a vast majority of investment in new housing stock in NYC. Some buildings cut a deal with the city to get tax breaks for providing 20% of the units as stabilized. If rent were fully deregulated: good luck finding someone willing to travel three hours to work in a midtown office for peanuts (or, for that matter, in any job other than finance). Do you have any non speculative examples of full deregulation actually increasing the stock of affordable, safe, up-to-code housing in a growing city?