I don't buy this. Lets assume in city X investors start buying houses for Airbnb in a scale that moves the market. Now, you have tons of open Airbnb houses in that area. Also, since investors has to pay more to buy property, they also need to rent it for more. However, with too much competition prices are going to fall, and it would no longer make sense to Airbnb a house. I think in medium term this problem will resolve by itself.
There is another issue in US, not related to the Airbnb, which is zoning law that makes houses artificially low inventory. With or without Airbnb, investors and funds are going to buy those houses becuase long term the price is going up as long as zoning law is in effect.
> I think in medium term this problem will resolve by itself.
It doesn't. There's always more tourists coming into a city than AirBnBs can handle, especially in big cities. I currently live in Dublin, and AirBnB is a huge issue here. And these people know they can keep charging their prices and raising them because tourists will keep coming. In doing so, they've taken over a thousand units (and probably several thousands, honestly; 1600 is the number that went back on the market when the pandemic hit) off the long term rent market, making the housing crisis here even worse.
There is another issue in US, not related to the Airbnb, which is zoning law that makes houses artificially low inventory. With or without Airbnb, investors and funds are going to buy those houses becuase long term the price is going up as long as zoning law is in effect.