Airbnb activity at current levels have not generated a meaningful increase in rents across Canada’s major cities, according to a report conducted by the Conference Board of Canada (CBOC) on behalf of the company..“We’ve seen a significant increase in rents across Canadian cities since 2016, as well as an increase in Airbnb activity,” said CBOC Director, Economic Research Tony Bonen in a press release. .“However, contrary to the common narratives around Airbnb listings, of the 30% increase in rents observed in our sample of neighbourhoods, at most less than one percentage point can be attributed to increased Airbnb activity.”.This study is the first of its kind to use actual Airbnb booking data rather than information scraped from the webpage and the first to focus on the effect of this activity on rents across Canada. .The CBOC found despite having a significant effect on the number of active high-use Airbnbs, regulations restricting short-term rentals to a host’s principal residence have not led to lower rents in the areas they were implemented. .It said areas that implemented principal residence restrictions often had higher rents, suggesting these cities might be motivated to introduce them to address broader affordability concerns. .The average rent for all property types in Canada was $2,117 per month in August, reaching a record high, according to a September 13 report conducted by Rentals.ca. .READ MORE: Report finds average rent in Canada reaches highest point ever.Rentals.ca said average asking rents in Canada increased 1.8% monthly and 9.6% annually. While the annual rate of inflation for asking rents was lower than the 12% increase from one year ago, it said it represented a four-month high. .The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom residence in Canada was $1,879 — an increase of 1.3% from July and 8.9% from the same month in 2022. .The report focused on high-use Airbnb listings between 2016 and 2022 across 330 neighbourhoods in 19 of the largest cities across Canada. These properties were chosen because they were more likely to increase pressure on rents by lowering long-term rental market supply, as opposed to listings that are a host’s principal place of residence and not used as often.
