A weekend topic starting with Eugene Weekly in Oregon. "The Eugene City Council heard a range of testimony in favor of and against a proposed ordinance requiring short term rental (STR) operators to obtain a business license. Mike Grudzien, who identified as a U.S. Marine Corp veteran and owner of both long-term and short-term rentals, said he was against the ordinance. 'It’s really overreaching, heavy-handed, and almost a little draconian,' Grudzien said. 'I don’t want to be a crusty old Marine, but you don’t kill flies with grenades.'"

"Eugene resident Stephanie Mclaughlin said the mechanism for revoking licenses was a 'real liability for hosts who have neighbors staunchly opposed to the STR concept.' She said she is hoping to be an STR host and that she will need the income from her rental 'to keep a roof over my head.'"

From Business Den in Colorado. "In Riverfront Park, one short-term rental startup is out and another has moved in. Austin-based The Guild, which leased 44 units within the AMLI Riverfront Green apartment complex at 1750 Little Raven St., has opted to exit the Denver market. San Francisco-based Kasa is taking over control of the units, the heads of both companies confirmed. 'Following COVID-19, we reduced our number of locations, and unfortunately we were not able to include Denver in our post COVID-19 portfolio,' The Guild co-founder Brian Carrico said."

"Both The Guild and Kasa — along with other competitors, such as Mint House and Sonder — lay claim to large blocks of apartments, and then rent them out to those desiring an Airbnb-like experience for as little as one night. They’re not subject to the 'primary residence' requirement for a short-term rental license in Denver because they apply for a different license, the same one a hotel would get. Another competitor, Stay Alfred, said last month it was shutting down."

From Mortgage Broker News in Canada. "In Canada’s top housing destinations, long-term residential supply has noticeably improved as Airbnb and similar services have scaled back ever since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in mid-March. The number of short-term rental properties has exhibited a clear January-April drop in Vancouver (down 18.5%), Toronto (down 20%), and Montreal (down 22%), according to analytics firm AirDNA."

"'We are seeing an incredible new amount of inventory of furnished units come onto the long-term rental market over the last few months,' said Andrew Harrild, co-founder of Condos.ca. Harrild pointed at Ice Condos in Toronto as emblematic of the phenomenon: From February to June, the number of Ice Condos units listed on the long-term market has grown by 234%. 'At Ice Condos, for example, there are now 147 units available for rent, which is unbelievable,' Harrild told The Financial Post."

The Iceland Review. "Rates in Reykjavík’s competitive rental market are on the decline, a development that observers largely credit to an overabundance of unused short-term rentals for tourists, RÚV reports. According to Registers Iceland, rental prices have dropped by 4.3% in the last three months. Vignir Már Lýðsson, an economist who works for the rental guarantee service Leiguskjól, says that the decrease can be attributed to the large number of Airbnb apartments that entered the rental market when the COVID-19 pandemic began and tourism was halted."

"'These apartments are generally fully furnished, which indicates that these are Airbnb apartments,' explained Vignir. 'The parties who are renting them out have an entirely different and higher required rate of return on their owner’s equity, so these low rental rates won’t last long – these apartments will rather be sold if the tourism market doesn’t right itself.'"

The Dubrovnik Times in Croatia. "It took years to build and only a few weeks to destroy. I think the real story starts in around the year 2003, yes I am pretty sure it was 2003, four years before the global financial crisis. Tourism and indeed the real estate market started to boom in Dubrovnik. Half of the Old City was sold as the exodus to Lapad began. Cruise ships had discovered Dubrovnik. The pearl of the Adriatic soon became the emerald of the world’s media."

"You could smell the expectation in the air. Yes, 2003, when the tsunami of tourism rose on the Adriatic and crashed into those iconic ancient walls. The city could do no wrong. The City of Dubrovnik had so much cash they didn’t know what to do."

"Airbnb brought competition and suddenly everyone with a garage had a 'luxury apartment in King’s Landing.' Apartment owners grew like mushrooms after the rain. What should have been an extra form of income, a bonus, soon turned into the main source of income for many. 7,000. 9,000. 12,000. 14,000. The number of apartments climbed like a soaring seagull."

"Hotels pumped prices like a bodybuilder pumping steroids. Monaco looked like a cheap hotel option. Airlines were queuing up. Euros, pounds, dollars, yen. Money flowed into the city from all angles. And records continued to fall. Most people on the city walls ever. Most number of overnight stays in history. Record profits. Highest ever revenues. We were living in a time of superlatives. Sailing freely on the calm Adriatic with the wind of tourism easing us towards the horizon."

"The government even tried to handcuff businesses in 2013 with the introduction of the fiscal cash register. Like the Sheriff of Nottingham demanding more gold from his subjects. But even this electronic inconvenience was circumnavigated like a pothole in Gruž. Capitalism was alive and well, and was an unstoppable force. Or was it?"

"After almost two decades of raking in the cash, like salt in the pans of Ston, we hit a bump in the road that couldn’t be avoided. Five letters, and two numbers, that people would remember for the rest of their lives - Covid-19. Two decades of business destroyed by two months of closure. Business scurry to the city for bailouts and help, the City scurries to the bank for a 60 million overdraft, the banks scurry to the government for support, the government scurries to the EU for cash and the EU runs to the World Bank for a loan!"

"Again two decades of record profits, that saw apartments paid for in cash, destroyed by two months. And don’t forget 'Winter is Coming' very soon."