I think what they (poorly) meant was that there shouldn’t be individuals/entities that own multiple houses, to give everyone/more people the chance to own homes. There is a serious housing shortage because a lot of people and companies buy multiple homes. Some use it as basically a form of money (notably the Chinese) and others use it as a form of income (Individuals/entities that own 10 or more affordable/family homes and rent it out. Airbnb was/is a huge contributer to this issue)
As a rule, people today cannot buy homes and rent is a major reason why. In most places rent is over 60% of the average paycheck. How are you supposed to afford a house? You won’t even get accepted for a mortgage with the average paycheck. This issue has a lot of consequences, suchas the birthrate is falling at an exponential rate. It’s barely at the replacement level, and in some places, below. And the trend is continuing.
I agree that short-term rentals are bad, but having more normal rental units, if there is demand for it, is not a bad thing. It’s profitable and desirable for people/companies to buy up houses to rent because the rental demand is not being met and they can charge what they want. “Investor” owned housing is generally not sitting empty, so it’s not as much of a drain on housing as its popularity as a punching bag warrants.
It’s important that we don’t pit people who want to rent and people who want to buy against each other. We just need more housing supply. Period.
This issue has a lot of consequences, suchas the birthrate is falling at an exponential rate. It’s barely at the replacement level, and in some places, below. And the trend is continuing.
I think what they (poorly) meant was that there shouldn’t be individuals/entities that own multiple houses, to give everyone/more people the chance to own homes. There is a serious housing shortage because a lot of people and companies buy multiple homes. Some use it as basically a form of money (notably the Chinese) and others use it as a form of income (Individuals/entities that own 10 or more affordable/family homes and rent it out. Airbnb was/is a huge contributer to this issue)
As a rule, people today cannot buy homes and rent is a major reason why. In most places rent is over 60% of the average paycheck. How are you supposed to afford a house? You won’t even get accepted for a mortgage with the average paycheck. This issue has a lot of consequences, suchas the birthrate is falling at an exponential rate. It’s barely at the replacement level, and in some places, below. And the trend is continuing.
I agree that short-term rentals are bad, but having more normal rental units, if there is demand for it, is not a bad thing. It’s profitable and desirable for people/companies to buy up houses to rent because the rental demand is not being met and they can charge what they want. “Investor” owned housing is generally not sitting empty, so it’s not as much of a drain on housing as its popularity as a punching bag warrants.
It’s important that we don’t pit people who want to rent and people who want to buy against each other. We just need more housing supply. Period.
So at least some good comes of it.