On rental markets and renovictions
Excellent Tracey Lindeman piece on Maisonneuve about the Montreal rental market. I see she’s done a podcast updating it to the COVID-19 era, but I haven’t listened yet.
I like this bit: According to the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to housing, financialization happens when housing is commodified and treated as a “vehicle for wealth and investment rather than a social good.”
We’re deep into that doo-doo now.
Ian 08:27 on 2020-04-02 Permalink
If nothing else positive comes from it, I am pretty confident that there will be a lot of former AirBnbs back on the rental market. I’ve been seeing a lot of postings for surprisingly expensive fully furnished apartments for rent lately, but those prices will come down as people get nervous about their mortgage load.
Blork 09:44 on 2020-04-02 Permalink
We’re already seeing Airbnb properties being listed for long-term rental. My Facebook is full of them. But none so far have been appealing because they are ALL fully-furnished apartments at pretty high rent. (Remember, those Airbnb “entrepreneurs” are not just invested in real estate — they have huge sums invested in furnishings).
While there is undoubtedly a small market for “fully furnished” units, we’re going to see a glut of them. That doesn’t just mean it comes with a fridge and stove; EVERYTHING is included from the television and the linens right down to the dinner plates. How does that serve the majority of tenants who already have their own stuff?
I saw a Youtube video for one place in Griffintown. Tiny one bedroom place. Bascially the equivalent of a small hotel suite. Tiny kitchenette, living room that literally had room for a two seater sofa and a TV on the wall and nothing else, and a bedroom that didn’t even have any dressers. $1700 a month. (Lots of windows and nice views though!)
Another listing — I forget where — was for a smallish two bedroom place. A bit more room than the one above, but again, fully furnished — decorations, dinnerware, beds, bed linens, seating, etc. — for $3000 a month.
So yeah, that works well for some executive who’s coming to Montreal to work for a few months, but how does it help regular people?
The next wave after the short-term-turned-long-term rental failure will be the foreclosures and subsequent condos for sale — possibly at a bit of a discount.
nau 09:53 on 2020-04-02 Permalink
They sound like excellent places for the city/province to temporarily expropriate to use as accommodation for health-care workers who want to avoid spreading disease to their families.
Blork 10:22 on 2020-04-02 Permalink
Brilliant!
Ian 13:03 on 2020-04-02 Permalink
I suggested the same on one of Richard Ryan’s facebook posts but he didn’t respond 😀
Tim 13:06 on 2020-04-02 Permalink
Expropriation implies, to me at least, that the government would financially compensate AirBnB operators. No thanks!
nau 13:32 on 2020-04-02 Permalink
I was trying not to imply that but failed I guess. Whatever the term, they’re going to need some sort of such housing. Given that asymptomatic doctors have spread at least 40 cases at Verdun Hospital (per Lapresse), healthcare staff really are not going to want to go anywhere near their families..
mare 15:05 on 2020-04-02 Permalink
I received an email from Airbnb that short term rental is completely forbidden in Quebec, so they’ll refund all guests without penalty.
Funny that apparently now Airbnb can abide to the law, but in the past they claimed they couldn’t, for instance by not accepting multiple full apartment listings by one host. Or listings not in the designated areas along main arteries.
It would look very bad if they continue to hide behind their usual defence of “hosts have to make sure they comply by local laws; we can’t enforce those laws ourselves”. Suddenly they can enforce the local laws, when it would hurt their image or if they would be sued by guests.