I spent a few months last year in AirBnBs in Berlin, looking for a permanent place.

From an outsider’s perspective, Berlin rents are ridiculously low unless you’re in the inner ring. Low enough I could cover the rent with money left over entirely from the rent I was collecting from a one bed flat I own in a small village in the UK, at the worst point of the €-£ exchange rate. Heck, I could usually do that with the AirBnBs too, despite their markups.

Yes, there is definitely a housing shortage, but as they have rent control the problem I experienced was too many people viewing each place. In one case, there were about 80-100 people viewing the same appartment as me while I was there. Not that my experience is at all incompatible with locals having more problems from high unemployment or low wages.