Canada rental market loses 31,000 homes
A study done at McGill estimates that Airbnb has subtracted 31,000 long-term rental homes from the Canadian market.
When neoliberals talk worshipfully about disruption, this is what they often mean: poor people squeezed out, while someone in California makes a lot of money and parks it in an offshore tax haven.
Kevin 13:44 on 2019-06-21 Permalink
2 percent of all homes in the Plateau are being used as Airbnb rentals year-round.
Most of the money being earned on Airbnb is by people who have bought apartments/apartment buildings and converted them to hotels.
Ian Rogers 14:57 on 2019-06-21 Permalink
Lots of duplexes and triplexes in Mile End are AirBnBs. Sometimes it’s just one flat, sometimes it’s the whole building.
Ephraim 16:14 on 2019-06-21 Permalink
Wonder what they are going to do in September, when they have to post their licence number? In the Plateau, unless you already have your Certificat d’Occupation, it’s almost impossible to get a new one, unless you are on Sherbrooke, St-Laurent or St-Denis.
Chris 22:11 on 2019-06-21 Permalink
Kate, it’s not just the VCs in Cali that benefit. Hosts also love it because they make an extra buck. Travellers also love it because it’s cheaper for them. Perhaps we get more tourists (I don’t know), and then business that caters to tourists love it too. Point being: many people benefit.
Tim F 23:41 on 2019-06-21 Permalink
Listen to WNYC’s series The Scarlet E about the housing crisis in America. It’s not the same market or regulatory scheme (it’s harder to evict in Quebec than in Indiana) but it sheds light into how the crisis is more than just Airbnb’s and gentrification.
Ephraim 05:05 on 2019-06-22 Permalink
@Chris – The hosts in Quebec are also supposed to declare the income on their income tax. How many do you suppose actually do? I bet that many of them don’t even know their real break-even point… what it costs in heat, electricity, laundry, their man hours, food, etc. And of course, unless they have actually set up a ENRG, they can’t deduct those costs legally anyway, so they need to pay income tax on 100% of the income, rather than deduct costs. (The same stupidity with Uber drivers who can’t deduct their gas because they don’t have F to T plates.)
While AirBnB tries to show this fake statistic that it increases tourism, it actually lowers the spend and therefore actually is less of an economic benefit to the city. For example, they may rent a place with a kitchen and therefore not eat out meals. If it competed on an even keel and benefited the industry, they wouldn’t be fighting it… it actually is detrimental to the industry and therefore, as one of the largest industries in Montreal… the city. For example, they eat out less than standard tourists and spend less money than standard tourists. It’s quite similar to cruise ship tourists… they don’t spend enough locally.
I love how AirBnB constantly tells people to lower their prices and make less money as costs constantly rise. A friend has the only listings in his area and they even send him notices showing him his other listings as proof that people are putting down their price and he needs to be “competitive”.
Kate 14:49 on 2019-06-22 Permalink
Chris, somehow people travelled and found places to stay before Airbnb. Like Uber, it’s a system for making some things cheap at great expense to others.
CR 13:58 on 2019-06-23 Permalink
“In New York, for instance, Airbnb directly accounted for a US$380 increase in median annual rent costs”
If this is also the case for Montreal, whatever you save on staying at an Airbnb is probably taken away by higher rent.