[HN Gopher] 100 Years of Rent Control in Sweden
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100 Years of Rent Control in Sweden
Author : paulpauper
Score : 29 points
Date : 2024-03-09 21:17 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.betonit.ai)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.betonit.ai)
| michaelje wrote:
| >> critics argue that it reduces the supply of rental apartments
| and creates housing shortages
|
| I don't follow the logic. It doesn't destroy the property or take
| it out of supply, it just means someone might not purchase it
| specifically to rent it out. Which in turn means less demand
| buying houses overall, which means more opportunities for people
| to buy (if they want?)
| graeme wrote:
| This analysis only works if you assume the supply is fixed.
|
| If you increase the returns to building ownership then people
| will build more buildings. Which lowers prices.
|
| Capping supply by decreasing the returns leads to less supply,
| other things equal.
| jayski wrote:
| It doesn't destroy the property or take it out of supply.
|
| But it also strongly disincentivizes potential investors in
| building new rental properties. Which makes perfect sense,if
| you inherited 5million euro would you spend it building rent
| controlled apartments or put into stocks&bonds?
| dehrmann wrote:
| Or in a US scenario, would you rather build rentals in Texas
| or California?
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| California. It's the world's fifth largest economy. I will
| take some regulatory risk over volatility in Texas.
| California vacancy rates speak for themselves, there is
| voracious demand for housing there vs Texas.
| neom wrote:
| In Toronto, as it has been explained to me by some banker
| types, in 2006 they introduced some pretty strong rent control,
| and developers just switched from building rentals to building
| condos, now Toronto has no rental units and a zillion condos
| that not many people can afford to buy or rent.^ Friend of mine
| lives in a condo and over half the units in his floor are now
| managed airbnbs.
|
| ^ Couple this situation with no restrictions (in fact
| encouragement) on foreign buyers for many many years, and you
| have condos sitting empty, condos rented out for amounts nobody
| can afford, and condos turning into airbnbs for rich tourists.
| From what I gather, both Toronto and Vancouver are a real mess
| because of this.
| voisin wrote:
| > friend of mine lives in a condo and over half the units in
| his floor are now managed airbnbs
|
| This should change with the new Anti-AirBNB(Short term
| rental) rules at municipal, provincial, and federal (CRA)
| levels.
| infotainment wrote:
| ...and it ends up being a cascade of new regulations to try
| and address the unforeseen consequences of the previous
| regulation. Eventually you end up like San Francisco where
| no new housing ever gets built ever again and prices are
| sky-high because of it.
| paulddraper wrote:
| So now fewer condos and apartments are produced.
|
| Brilliant.
| colonwqbang wrote:
| 1. Few new rentals are built, because it's not profitable
|
| 2. Existing rentals are converted to condominiums, because that
| is more profitable
|
| If you can afford to buy a condominium, great. If not, there is
| always the public housing company. I hope you're not in a hurry
| though because the typical waiting time to get a rental in
| Stockholm is 7-11 years.
|
| https://bostad.stockholm.se/english/
| paulddraper wrote:
| I refer you to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39655144
|
| > there's a queue for rentals, so you register that you want to
| rent in Stockholm, and then you get put on a list, and then
| wait two years for it to be your turn
|
| Price capping any good -- housing, fuel, food -- by definition
| produces a shortage.
|
| A shortage is when there is more demand than supply at the
| market price.
|
| And artificially lowering the market price increases the amount
| demanded and reduces the amount supplied.
| tonoto wrote:
| I believe that the queue hasn't been as short as "two years"
| in a couple of decades.
| fragmede wrote:
| There are a bunch of other details about the Stockholm housing
| market that I think are relevant. I information is dated, as I
| did not end up moving there, but circa 2017, condos cost m around
| $300k, but were not expected to appreciate significantly, unlike
| the US housing market, so it wouldn't be an investment the same
| way a condo in SF would be. The other thing is that there's a
| queue for rentals, so you register that you want to rent in
| Stockholm, and then you get put on a list, and then wait two
| years for it to be your turn. which leads to the black market
| mentioned in the post - if you know somebody, you can skip the
| line. of course if you buy a place you don't have to wait in
| line, the rich get to buy their way in. so it's not just about
| price fixing, but also accessibility to find them in the first
| place. it's not the same free for all to just jump on craiglist
| and everyone rushes to apply at the showing.
| 58028641 wrote:
| Rent control just rewards people who are lucky enough to get
| locked in lower rates. The best way to make rent affordable is to
| increase supply, then the price will fall.
| noahtallen wrote:
| There's a limit to how much price can fall when buildings and
| land are investments. A house which appreciates underneath
| tenants will get sold, the new owner will have a higher
| mortgage payment, and rent will necessarily be higher.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| Most of life is luck, and life isn't fair.
| tuatoru wrote:
| The older I get, the more libertarian. A landowner should be
| allowed to build whatever they want[1], irrespective of the
| objections of neighbors. Viewshafts, sunlight blocking,
| neighborhood "character", convenants on building attributes like
| size or materials? Nonsense.
|
| 1. Subject to physiological and environmental safeguards like
| water supply and waste disposal for inhabitants, temperature,
| humidity and air healthiness, fire and earthquake safety, noise
| pollution, stormwater management.
| bdjsiqoocwk wrote:
| "whatever they want" and then you add an asterisk. Give it a
| few years, as you get older and more libertarian your asterisk
| will get smaller and smaller.
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