No rent control = housing boom and lowered prices?

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Saw this post on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAjCAJYusg6/?igsh=djRsOGh3ZzhyY2Zr ) which claims that the removal of rent control in Buenos Aires led to an increase in available housing and a decrease in housing prices which seems counter-intuitive to me.

Is the increase in availability due to landlords raising the rent and forcing existing renters out ( thus more availability)? But how then are the prices of these places somehow lower?

What am I missing?

In: Economics

19 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Very expensive homes take a while to sell outside highly populated areas like the east and west coast because you are competing for someone’s business with new construction / custom home. To me, The idea of removing rent control is similar to the argument that eliminating the minimum wage= lower unemployment rates. Both may allow the free market to see prices and supply reach some equilibrium but no politician will get over the fear of voter backlash to make this sort of change. They must be seen as “doing something” to solve a problem so they can take credit for the sun rising tomorrow even if what they do does not work .

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