It's not the same thing: people line up at grocery stores because they _need_ food to survive.
If you restricted Airbnb, you'd be dampening the supply of hotels and the demand for real estate. When the demand for real estate goes down, its price will go down.
The price of hotels would be expected to go up, but I think we can live with that, as its a far more elastic good than housing.
It is hard for me to imagine any notable impact on property prices even by eliminating every AirBnB rental tonight.
I'd love to see people making this claim cite some numbers. Just how many residences are being "diverted" from your preferred use, and where did you get that number? Citing handwavey econ 101 principles is no more convincing when done here than it is, say, in the minimum wage debate.
If you restricted Airbnb, you'd be dampening the supply of hotels and the demand for real estate. When the demand for real estate goes down, its price will go down.
The price of hotels would be expected to go up, but I think we can live with that, as its a far more elastic good than housing.