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Scale Ruins Everything

(coldwaters.substack.com)
175 points drc500free | 11 comments | 14 Oct 24 17:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.593s | source | bottom
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endo_bunker ◴[14 Oct 24 20:09 UTC] No.41841389[source]▶
Comical to suggest that AirBnB "ruined communities" or "destroyed the dream of home ownership" as if decades of federal, state, and local government policy had not already guaranteed those outcomes.
replies(10): >>41841436 #>>41841453 #>>41841646 #>>41841877 #>>41841931 #>>41842064 #>>41842765 #>>41848413 #>>41850468 #>>41851808 #
1. api ◴[14 Oct 24 20:14 UTC] No.41841436[source]▶
Yeah I'm tired of this too. Real estate hyperinflation is almost entirely the fault of chronically under-building real estate due to regulatory capture by landlords, legacy homeowners, and speculators. The real estate market is more or less a cartel in quite a few places.

AirBnB is a small factor. I suppose it drives up prices, but only because supply is so absurdly tight.

replies(3): >>41841458 #>>41841504 #>>41841755 #
2. Blackthorn ◴[14 Oct 24 20:16 UTC] No.41841458[source]▶
100% of code uses 100% of resources. Let's not downplay the role of Airbnb as both a company and a phenomena for causing inflation. But more than that, remember that a lot happens at the margins in these markets: what's actually liquid or in play is a small part of the overall stock. So anything that messes with that will have an outsized effect.
3. ◴[14 Oct 24 20:20 UTC] No.41841504[source]▶
4. robertlagrant ◴[14 Oct 24 20:42 UTC] No.41841755[source]▶
You can define it as under-building, but that's only one side of the political effect. E.g. the UK net immigration rate has been pretty enormous, and it seems lopsided to call it under-building to have not built homes for a giant number of people coming from their previous homes elsewhere in the world to the UK.

Speaking as the son of an immigrant, married to an immigrant, for the people who can only think tribally, and must assume I am doing the same.

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5. arccy ◴[14 Oct 24 21:04 UTC] No.41841980[source]▶
most of these are legal immigrants, so the country decided to accept them, and yet failed to build enough to keep up with demand that they allowed.
replies(1): >>41843282 #
6. Hammershaft ◴[14 Oct 24 21:05 UTC] No.41841995[source]▶
Underutilization of land as a result on speculation on the growth of land prices is a major reason, even Manhattan has massive chunks of real estate that are vacant, a land value tax would fix this.
replies(1): >>41867496 #
7. robertlagrant ◴[14 Oct 24 23:25 UTC] No.41843282{3}[source]▶
I agree that both things are caused by one level or government or another. I'm just saying that under building is not the only explanation. It's probably not even the most natural one. It's maybe a second or effect once you've decided to admit multiple cities' worth of people each year.
replies(1): >>41850817 #
8. BlueTemplar ◴[15 Oct 24 17:21 UTC] No.41850817{4}[source]▶
Curious, what happened to their previous homes ? Did they become Airbnb rentals on the cheap too by any chance ?
replies(1): >>41851036 #
9. robertlagrant ◴[15 Oct 24 17:43 UTC] No.41851036{5}[source]▶
That would be an odd thing to assume. Net immigration has long predated AirBnB.
replies(1): >>41861133 #
10. BlueTemplar ◴[16 Oct 24 16:43 UTC] No.41861133{6}[source]▶
Obviously I wonder about post-AirBnB migrants... or maybe also can we see changes in the source countries between pre- and post- ?
11. robertlagrant ◴[17 Oct 24 08:17 UTC] No.41867496{3}[source]▶
That's an effect of massive demand, not a cause (or not a first-order cause). If you know (and vote for) loads more demand is coming the more you wait, you will wait. If demand were more limited to natural population growth levels, there'd be no point waiting.