New study sheds light of short-term Airbnb rentals across Canada
Posted June 20, 2019 11:58 am.
Last Updated June 20, 2019 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A new study on Airbnb in Canada is showing people exactly what the normal long-term rental supply would be if short-term rental companies were not part of the market.
This new study out of McGill University finds that Airbnb has removed more than 31,000 units from our country’s long-term rental supply.
Co-author David Wachsmuth is an assistant professor in Urban Planning and says the impact of this is being felt to a greater degree in our province compared with others.
“In B.C. systematically, you see more Airbnb’s per capita,” says Wachsmuth. “In other words, there are more of them as a kind of proportion of the size of the cities and communities.”
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He says that the amount of housing Airbnb has removed from the long-term rental market is roughly equal to the amount available to renters.
“If we were to turn that back into proper rental housing, in a lot of cases we’d be talking about basically doubling the supply in the short-term of housing that’s available for folks in B.C. and Vancouver to rent,” he says.
Wachsmuth believes the City of Vancouver is trying to do it’s part to curb the short-term rental market and provide more housing for long-term rentals through its regulatory and licensing system. However, he also acknowledges that in other cities that have implemented regulations, short-term renters often end up finding a way around the system.
He says continued and diligent enforcement is required to ensure that doesn’t happen in Vancouver.
Airbnb has responded to the study, saying the numbers are “scraped” from their website and doesn’t provide the full context.
