Housing costs

[danbrotherston]

Decreasing demand and increasing supply doesn't necessarily require people move away or building new housing, some people are 'overhoused'--we see this in neighbourhoods where the population is decreasing because people don't move when their children leave. And there are cases where more profit is extracted from housing people inequality leads to "excess money" that people want to invest...not to mention things like airbnb. Wealth inequality increases these things.

Sometimes building more is a matter of dividing a large unit into smaller units, that’s true.

Good point about overhousing. The amount of floor space demanded can vary a lot depending on how people choose to live. And in turn the amount of vacant land required to accommodate that floor space can vary a lot depending on how we build our buildings. And in turn the amount of land required on a large scale depends on how we build our cities.

I wouldn’t worry about AirBNB, any more than I would worry about a potato chip factory.

AirBNB takes real estate that is originally built to be occupied by a long-term occupant, and makes it easier to break it up into a lot of short-term occupancies. A potato chip factory takes plain potatoes and breaks them up into small crispy snacks. In both cases, they can only operate if there is demand for their output, and more of their inputs can be created.

(there are some knock-on effects from AirBNB, things like short-term occupancies tending to attract undesireable parties and criminality; but I’m thinking more about the overall effect on supply and demand)

Ultimately, Airbnb removes units from the local real estate market. It isn’t residents of KW which are renting Airbnb’s, therefore it reduces supply of housing for residents. Yes, I believe housing residents should take precedence over housing short term visitors.

Now, not all Airbnb’s are equal. A person renting a room in their home that they wouldn’t have otherwise is an increase in housing. But in some markets Airbnb has removed an astonishing number (like >25%) ouf units from the local housing market.