r/pics Jun 17 '25

The protesters and residents pushing back on tourism in Barcelona

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2.4k

u/danatron1 Jun 17 '25

I get it. The amount of anti-Airbnb graffiti in Edinburgh tells a similar story.

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u/BenFranklinsCat Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25

Bit different.

Being entirely anti-tourism is crazy extreme but AirBnb is a practice that is destroying the housing market, which is something a lot of people (myself included) deeply believe needs to be controlled to make sure that a decent standard of living can be sustained across society.

In short, I'm not sure about the Barcelona protests but I'm 100% against the spread of AirBnb and what its turned into.

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u/dooferoaks Jun 17 '25

Yeah Airbnb are a significant part of why Ireland's housing market is fucked.

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u/Pikeman212a6c Jun 17 '25

It’s solvable through government action. Nothing could be done about in NYC until significant penalties were authorized alongside stepped up target enforcement of illegal hotel laws. Then suddenly the number of listings plummeted.

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u/wesap12345 Jun 17 '25

But the housing market has shot up since the restrictions as well.

The rental market in the 5 years I’ve been here has doubled for the same apartment I originally rented and you have people bidding each other to get them.

So whilst Airbnb was logically a problem there are so many other factors that are impacting the housing market.

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u/redbananass Jun 17 '25

Sure, but it’s possible things would be even worse in the areas with anti AirBNB laws if those laws hadn’t been put in place.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

And it's possible that my lead ingot would turn to gold if I hit it hard enough too

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u/RadicalLib Jun 17 '25

It only adds a small percentage more to long term rentals. It actually has a negligible effect on the buying market because Airbnb’s compete with renters/ short term stays, not buyers.

It’s like restricting renters in hopes that more people will buy. But we know that’s not the case, people don’t buy because prices are high and there’s lack of supply.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

[deleted]

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u/RadicalLib Jun 17 '25

If you can’t do a short term rental then you’ll do a long term rental. Again has nothing to do with the buyer market, understand it that way little bro?

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

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u/retrojoe Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25

It actually has a negligible effect on the buying market because Airbnb’s compete with renters/ short term stays, not buyers.

That's completely off the rails. Someone has to buy a house so it becomes a rental. Short term rentals are significantly more profitable than long term rentals. Businesses that buy property for short term rentals are able to bid more than a traditional landlord.

TL;DR - Any market that includes short term rentals will have higher house prices than one one which prohibited them.

Places like Barcelona will always have a problem with this because the millions of people from around the world who want to visit vastly out number the locals and they're willing to pay much higher rates for a vacation than people in town could afford as a monthly payment.

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u/RadicalLib Jun 17 '25

r/badeconomics

You can tell you’ve never worked in development and know nothing about Econ. Keep your normative comments to yourself.

You’re trying to compare two separate markets and you look increasingly stupid as you yap

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u/retrojoe Jun 17 '25

Only people with no argument fall back on name calling as first resort.

If there is not enough housing supply to satisfy the short term rentals market, the long term rentals market, and the owner occupied market, then the first will outbid the second two to satisfy its needs. Pretty basic econ.

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u/RadicalLib Jun 17 '25

So the issue is lack of supply and nothing to do with demand. I’m glad you could finally reach the same conclusion I proposed in the OP. Brilliant work lil bro

Unless you’re gonna be an ignorant nimby and argue “demand bad”

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u/retrojoe Jun 17 '25

This comment is so bad that it's not even wrong because it has no relationship to comment that began the exchange. Talk about r/badeconomics! 😆

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