A new study suggests that short-term rentals are contributing to the region’s housing shortage and helping drive up costs for renter households.
New research from Florida Atlantic University indicates that the growth of the short-term vacation rental industry could be impacting housing affordability in South Florida, a claim often made by critics of the STR model. As Amber Bonefont reports for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, taking apartments off the market to use them as vacation rentals can drive up housing costs for long-term renters.
According to study author Ken H. Johnson, “It’s the shortage of available units that drives rental rates higher. While developers and local governments clearly need to build more units, that’s not the only solution to this problem.”
Similar impacts have been observed elsewhere. “A study published in the Harvard Law and Policy Review looked at the city of Los Angeles and concluded that converting a unit previously used by a resident to an Airbnb removed the unit from the rental market, therefore leading to a ‘real, but likely mild, increase in rents.’”
Vacation rental companies like Airbnb argue that the sharp rise in housing costs is unrelated to their industry, as the share of STRs in U.S. housing stock has stayed roughly the same in the last decade. However, getting an accurate count of vacation rentals is notoriously difficult, making the scale of the problem hard to quantify.
FULL STORY: Vacation rentals are adding to South Florida’s housing crunch, study suggests
Spain Fines Airbnb $75 Million After Crackdown on Unlicensed Rentals
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New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
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Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
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EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
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Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
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Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association