Is Airbnb causing rising rents?

Airbnb is a fast growing platform that allows travellers to rent out an apartment or room from a local for a few days while visiting a city. But while this is handy for travellers looking for affordable accommodation it has started to cause other problems in some areas.

So many have started making using of Airbnb to rent out their homes that some locals are actually using the platform to rent out their real estate to travellers all year round.

This is one factor that is being blamed for increasingly unaffordable real estate in cities all over the world.

Berlin has just banned tourists from renting entire apartments through Airbnb, to try to protect affordable housing. Berliners can face fines of €100,000 if they break the new renting rule.

Non-city residents will only be allowed to rent out rooms in their homes, not entire flats or houses.

Andreas Geise, Berlin's Head of Urban Development, said the new regulation was a 'necessary and sensible instrument against the housing shortage in Berlin'.

Adding: "I am absolutely determined to return such misappropriated apartments to the people of Berlin and to newcomers."

Berlin isn't the only city to take action against rising rents, Paris, Barcelona, New York and San Francisco among others have also tried to limit Airbnb.

According to the Independent, the law, called 'Zweckentfremdungsverbot', was originally passed in 2014 but took two years to come into effect.

It seems it's already had some effect given that Airbnb listings dropped by 40% as of the 30 April deadline.