Live data from Hacker News

Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

theolivepress.es

61–70 of 375 posts

Re: Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

#61

Barcelona has a population of ~1.7 million. The metro area surrounding is ~5.7 million. The metro area grew by ~100k in the past four years. They are freeing up ~10,000 houses over the next four years with this legislation. Barcelona built ~15,000 new properties between 2011 and 2020. The math don't math. It's a drop in the bucket. The entire impact of AirBnB + all housing built in the last decade does not offset the…

It's demagogy and it works.

Re: Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

#62
being a tourist destination seems to me almost like a resource curse, like oil wealth can be in certain countries.

tourism can be so lucrative that it is actually profitable to force out normal people and completely reorient the economy away from all other productive activities. eventually large parts of the city will become totally stagnant, but this doesn't seem to stop tourists from coming. there's often a constituency of people who are really benefiting from tourism (property owners, tour operators, restaurants) and who form a powerful bloc opposed to any restrictions or taxes.

it really seems quite similar to an economy where natural resource profits drive everything, it's impossible to get any other industries off the ground or make enough money to live in any other way.

Re: Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

#63

Good. Tourists should sleep in hotels and locals should sleep in their flats. Platforms like AirBnB only put oil in the fire when it comes to housing crises.

It's interesting hotels that feel like an AirBnB don't really exist. Even though the professional AirBnB hosts are doing all the functions that hotels do. Why not the reverse.

They recognize it exists. I'm even hearing podcast ads from Marriot or similar touting how much more reliable they are.

AirBnBs I've stayed in the past few years have all been janky, weird, and not really any cheaper than hotels. I don't have to do chores at hotels, and I can always get (and return) the key promptly. I've also been told on several occasions not to let anyone else in the building know I was an AirBnB guest. AirBnB used to be better, but the advent of "professional hosts" with many properties really degraded things. They often have the typical landlord mentality of expecting a lot of reward with little work or risk.

Re: Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where in Barcelona would you increase density? https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/barcelona-pop... from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40752920 ("Barcelona has a 16,000 people per square km density - that’s already one of the highest in Europe.") Capital moves faster than meat space. To defend the human (affordable housing), you have to regulate. The whole "just build more, I want my AirBnB" argumen…

That being said, in the US you can and should absolutely should build more, and basically get rid of most zoning regulations. You'd have a hard time finding anything as touristic and dense as Barcelona in the US.

I argue AirBnB should be banned anywhere building cannot be done at a rate which ensures affordable housing can exist for locals. Whether that is due to construction labor shortages, density, zoning, whatever, it does not matter. AirBnB can exist where there is surplus housing capacity, but should be banned anywhere else.

Locals get votes, tourists and AirBnB do not. The harm of not being able to afford housing is far worse than harm incurred by not being able to book a vacation rental you prefer.

Re: Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

#65

Good. Tourists should sleep in hotels and locals should sleep in their flats. Platforms like AirBnB only put oil in the fire when it comes to housing crises.

> Tourists should sleep in hotels and locals should sleep in their flats. What if we let people decide what they should/n't do with their own property instead?

That’s not how it works. There are already some laws that don’t allow owners to do certain things in/with their property (for example, you cannot just convert your flat into a disco for obvious reasons).

Re: Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where in Barcelona would you increase density? https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/barcelona-pop... from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40752920 ("Barcelona has a 16,000 people per square km density - that’s already one of the highest in Europe.") Capital moves faster than meat space. To defend the human (affordable housing), you have to regulate. The whole "just build more, I want my AirBnB" argumen…

That being said, in the US you can and should absolutely should build more, and basically get rid of most zoning regulations. You'd have a hard time finding anything as touristic and dense as Barcelona in the US.

> get rid of most zoning regulations

"most" is doing a lot of work here. don't forget you probably don't want to live next to an airport, railroad, chemical plant

Re: Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

#67
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, the population practicing birth control could solve the crisis. Don't have kids if you don't own at least one home :)

"Poor people shouldn't be allowed to reproduce, that will fix our problems"

It's not even poor people, in some "advanced economies" we're getting to a point where income means very little, and inheriting means a lot. I've only seen such a lack of empathy in teenagers or silver spoons.

Re: Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

#68
post #9

Will this actually change anything? Curious if folks will just create a black market for these instead (this is basically how ny works)

I have no data, but experience from many other cases shows that economics will take what it wants. Scenarios I can imagine: 1. Black market, which will hurt tourists and locals alike 2. These flats rented to digital nomads instead 3. These flats sold instead, and will be bought buy some hedge funds who will just wait for price appreciation and still asking hight rent

But most plausible scenario is mix of the above plus something unexpected and bad

Re: Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

#69

Barcelona has a population of ~1.7 million. The metro area surrounding is ~5.7 million. The metro area grew by ~100k in the past four years. They are freeing up ~10,000 houses over the next four years with this legislation. Barcelona built ~15,000 new properties between 2011 and 2020. The math don't math. It's a drop in the bucket. The entire impact of AirBnB + all housing built in the last decade does not offset the…

For what it’s worth, it’s a little closer than your numbers imply. The city averages 2.51 people per household, so now they just need 75k more houses.

https://www.barcelona.cat/infobarcelona/en/tema/city-council...

Re: Barcelona will eliminate tourist apartments

#70

Good. Tourists should sleep in hotels and locals should sleep in their flats. Platforms like AirBnB only put oil in the fire when it comes to housing crises.

Hotels suck. I want a hotel with no staff. Thats airbnb

Nice kitchens, laundry machines in the apartment, comfortable living rooms, access to attached outdoor space, and accommodations for larger parties traveling together are very difficult for hotels to compete with.
Post reply on HN