[geofft]

I very much agree with you that the lack of supply is a major problem, but the article is making a case here that what the algorithm is doing is tantamount to price-fixing / collusion. Even in markets where supply is much easier to come by than housing and does not have the entrenched political dysfunction restricting supply - such as RAM chips and canned tuna - price-fixing is a problem.

There's an analogy in the article to airplane seat pricing. The solution there was to tell the airlines they couldn't collude with each other, not to say "The real problem is the lack of flight supply."

[maximilianroos]

Yes, I think that's a fair point.

But I don't see any actual evidence that collusion is happening. Collusion is difficult to pull off! It requires each owner to restrict their supply so that all owners benefit through higher prices. The incentive for an individual owner is to "defect" by renting out their whole supply. Collusion generally requires participants to be able to monitor and enforce each other's behavior.

To the extent that owners are increasing prices slightly to benefit themselves, that's not collusion, that's just the market clearing.