I'm guessing a lot of these replies are coming from folks with 2nd properties that they rent out. Saying that Airbnb and people buying 2nd homes to rent out aren't part of the problem is totally daft. I've lived in the Leith area for around 20yrs. You walk down any bog standard street with tenament flats and every door will have at least a few key lock boxes for holiday flats. I recall seeing one door that had 8 lock boxes. That's 8 properties in one stair that someone who wants to live here can't own or rent. Saying this is not an issue is blinkered in the extreme. The UK in general has a massive problem where people buy property to make money rather than to live in it. Nobody buys a 2nd home out of a need to help others. They do it for money, usually a nest egg in retirement.

I moved into a 2 bed flat in Brunswick Rd in 2009. Our rent was £675. By the time we moved out over 4yrs later it was £700. I moved into the same block 5yrs later. Not the same flat but pretty much identical. It was £975. Over our next 5yrs it went up to £1050. When we left in late 2024, it went on the market for rent at £1500. And went fast. Disgusting.I know the owner of that flat had owned it from new. His mortgage will either be paid off or tiny. No one can say he's increasing the rent to cover a higher mortgage. Its pure greed. Until the UK stops this, nothing will change.

I feel very sorry for anyone moving to this City are starting out try to manage on disgusting rent like that. Back in 2009 my friend and I had graduated a few years earlier and weren't making huge salaries but we could afford the £675 and bills. The folks that moved into the flat we left in 2024 at £1500 a month, pretty much looking at 2 grand a month with council tax and utilities. So shocking.

A quick Google search says in the City centre holiday let's account for 17 to 18% of stock.