Thread by @dwachsmuth

Report release day! Thrilled to announce the release of "Short-term rentals in Halifax: An UPGo city spotlight", available for download now!

upgo.lab.mcgill.ca/publication/sh…

If you're interested in a quick look at the numbers and implications, this thread has you covered.

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The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) had 2,420 active STRs on Aug 31, 2019, which is a 19% year-over-year increase. They earned $30.9 million last year.

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Halifax has the most STR listings of any city in Atlantic Canada (the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador), and generates by far the most STR revenue.

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At the provincial scale, Halifax and Cape Breton are the two major hotspots for STRs in Nova Scotia.

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Halifax's STR market is dominated by entire-home listings, which make up 74% of listings and earn 90% of revenue. Family-suitable homes with two or more bedrooms make up 61% of entire-home listings in the HRM.

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STR revenue in Halifax is distributed highly unequally: more than two fifths of all revenue last year was earned by just one in twenty hosts, and the top ten percent of hosts earned 55% of all revenue.

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More than two fifths (41%) of active listings were commercial multilistings (listings controlled by a host with two or more entire-home listings or three or more private-room listings), and these listings earned 50% of total host revenue last year.

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STRs have removed 740 housing units from Halifax’s long-term housing market—about 1% of the region’s entire rental housing stock.

There has been a 38% increase in STR-induced housing loss in the HRM in the last twelve months—twice the growth rate of active listings (19%).

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81% of housing units converted to commercial STRs are in urban and suburban areas of the HRM. Downtown Halifax experienced the most housing loss, but suburban areas experienced the fastest growth in housing loss over the period examined: a 62.5% year-over-year increase.

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Converting commercial STRs back to long-term housing would raise the vacancy rate from 1.6% to up to 2.8% in the short-term, and bring down rents in the long-term. Central Halifax would see its rental vacancy rate nearly triple in the short term, from ~1.0% to 3.0%.

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More details are on the UPGo website at upgo.lab.mcgill.ca/2019/11/12/sho…. The report (and all the code) can be downloaded at upgo.lab.mcgill.ca/publication/sh….

The report is authored by me, @ch4rlottegrace, and Amy Bolt from UPGo. Check it out, and shoot me questions here if you've got any!

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