Barcelona to ban Airbnb, Valencia might soon follow

Interesting. I wonder, will new residents flock to the city, and will their long-term rentals be widely available and very affordable?

Cyn, the plan is to convert the 10,000+ short term apartments into longer term rentals or homes to buy. There are many Barcelona locals who have been pushed out of the city in recent years due to overtourism, inflated housing costs, and even rising crime rates. Many of my friends who were also born and grew up in Barcelona now are forced to live in the city outskirts. The hope is this move will encourage those locals to return and start "repopulating' Barcelona's city centre and old town.

It sounds like Barcelona and other popular tourist spots would like to ban Brits as well, or at least some of their rowdy habits. And some plan to boycott Spain in retaliation.

https://www.fodors.com/world/europe/spain/experiences/news/british-tourists-want-to-boycott-spain-over-anti-tourism-protests

I wish our Socialist mayor and city government would do something about some of our Airbnb rentals where I live. We have a horrible housing crunch.

A wise move that is long overdue. Barcelona is following the lead of cities like Amsterdam and Lisbon whose residents were being evicted so investors and landlords can convert housing for locals into short-term tourist accommodations and fatten their bottom line.
We have the same problem in San Diego. It reduces the availability of affordable housing, makes rents skyrocket and adds to the numbers of unhoused people on the streets which the community at large is forced to shoulder the responsibility for.

I totally understand their feelings. Like others, we have the same problem here, on a smaller scale. Duluth has not banned AirBnbs outright but does limit the number of license to only 90. It's a continuing problem for many places and it's really hard to know what to do. Tourism brings in dollars, but when the tourists cause more problems that they're worth, maybe it's time to crack down.

In Barcelona, while the closure of 10,000 apartments may seem small, in reality the tourist apartments act as a "rent multiplier" for the neighborhoods they are in, artificially bringing up the average cost of housing for locals trying to live nearby. The main thing they are trying to achieve is for tourists and locals not to have to compete with one another for housing.

The inevitable unintended consequences of Barcelona's decision will be interesting to follow. I hope Valencia doesn't follow suit, as we'd hoped to use AirBnB there next summer when we visit Spain. But they will do what they see as best, as they should.

I'm not much of a fan of manipulating markets like this, but I understand the concerns of the locals. The effects of AirBnBs on housing affordability will continue to be studied. Perhaps they're as damaging as their opponents claim, though I'm doubtful.