Short-term accommodation rentals are not having a large impact on Canada’s long-term rental-housing supply, says a Conference Board of Canada executive.

“[Airbnb] has an impact on supply; for sure, it does,” said Tony Bonen, the Conference Board’s director of economic research, told Connect in an interview.

But, he added, Airbnb units account for only 1% of the total Canadian rental-housing supply. On average, only 0.5% of Canadian households in a given neighbourhood are being used for Airbnb rentals.

Bonen made the comments in wake of a Conference Board report that found Airbnb rentals do not raise long-term rents.

“[Airbnb] has an impact on supply; for sure, it does,” said Bonen in an interview.

But, he added, Airbnb units account for only 1% of the total Canadian rental-housing supply. Only 0.5% of Canadian households are being used for Airbnb rentals.

Regulators are toughening STR rules as a means of offsetting a chronic rental-housing shortage. The Conference Board’s findings differ from a McGill University report that found STRs removed 16,810 housing units from the long-term rental market in the past year.

The B.C. government has introduced new legislation that cracks down on STRs.

“We need to look at the overall supply of housing as a long-term solution,” said Bonen.

He said Conference Board researchers were surprised to find that Airbnb rentals did not lead to a significant increase in long-term rents between 2016 and 2022. Airbnb and the Conference Board maintain that the report’s findings differ from others because board researchers used actual bookings figures instead of scraping data off STR listings.

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