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Comment by saddlerustle | Hacker News Reader

Buy to let has no effect on housing prices as long as rental yields are low.

If the problem is tourism: ban tourists from the city. It doesn't make sense to ban short-term rentals but continue to build hotels and run advertising campaigns promoting tourism to Amsterdam

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> It doesn't make sense to ban short-term rentals but continue to build hotels and run advertising campaigns promoting tourism to Amsterdam

Why doesn't it? Why should tourists get to say in the same type of places as locals, often at the expense of locals? To me, it makes perfect sense to ban short-term rentals but still let tourists stay in hotels and places meant for them, without taking up real estate that can be used for residences.

Hotels are also real estate that could be used for residences.

The difference is that there are areas specifically zoned for hotels, for tourists, and they're included in city planning. What is happening with AirBnB, and short-term rentals like it, is that areas that weren't included for tourists in city planning are now being turned for that purpose, at the expense of the locals who they are planed/zoned for. It's two very different dynamics, and even comes into play with city planning, and AirBnB is completely ruining it, and thus ruining it for the locals. Hotels are already included in planning, and are not taking away places where the locals could live.

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