yeah seriously there isn’t enough housing in major cities so the little new construction that isn’t rentals has a good chance of turning into an “investment property” via someone buying the mortgage and immediately turning it into a rental unit or airbnb unit. I really think that cities should either outlaw these type of units or tax them heavily and divert all new funds into new housing construction, or just incentivize so much new housing it turns into a losing investment
source: i live in seattle and my partner owns property where 1/4 of their neighbors are landlords in a new construction complex
NYC has outlawed them more than 30 days (unless it's just a room and you're in the unit). NY state has legally created a registry and now smaller towns are requiring permits.
But Seattle and NYC Airbnbs aren't second homes, it's investments people were trying to play with. A vacation home is more a seasonal spot near a beach or a lake or mountain. That sort of stuff doesn't steal some middle class family's chances of renting something cheaper by pulling a unit off the rental market.
Pied-à-terre is a thing in places like NYC, London, etc. Certainly you are right that there are differences and different cities have different features which attract different folks with different ideas.
But I think vacation home can include not just a season spot near a beach or lake or mountain - people buy vacation homes in Mallorca, or Venice, or Provence, or wherever too.
I am not really opposed to them or anything like that, I just wanted to point out there are some harmful effects for some places. The travel industry and the ease of travel is probably more of a concern, because instead of having a family buy a vacation property on a beach somewhere, you've got an entire industry turning that vacation spot into a zoo and for the number of people that do live in that vacation area it hollows it out a bit of any sort of meaning. The whole thing becomes a simulation of a vacation spot.
source: i live in seattle and my partner owns property where 1/4 of their neighbors are landlords in a new construction complex