Report: Airbnb has 'minimal' impact on housing in Portland, OR

Dive Brief:

Facing criticism — and legal action — from cities that say home-sharing sites cut into already-tight housing inventory by offering the otherwise-available space to short-term visitors, Airbnb commissioned consultancy ECONorthwest to study the company’s impact on the affordable housing crisis in Portland, OR, according to The Oregonian.
Airbnb has a "minimal, if any" impact on housing in the city, the report found, as few (0.03%) of the company’s listings are full-house rentals, versus renting a room for a few days or a night a couch.
The report cited limited supply, zoning capacity, land availability and rising construction costs as the primary drivers of housing problems in Portland.

Dive Insight:

The debate around the legality of home-sharing websites in major cities centers on the question of whether users who put their homes on the site for short-term rentals would otherwise rent them out for longer terms. In its report, ECONorthwest found that those users weren’t likely to do so. And, even if they were, many of the properties wouldn’t be affordable to households making between 60% and 80% of the region’s median family income.

Although most of the company’s listings are short-term rentals, commercial listings — or full-unit shares for longer periods — account for a growing share of the company’s listings and revenue, FiveThirtyEight reported in August citing data from consulting firm Airdna.

The situation in Portland, OR, where FiveThirtyEight reports commercial listings make up 21.1% of all Airbnb listings and 45% of revenues from the site, is particularly tenuous. There, rents are appreciating the most nationwide, along with other cities along the West Coast, driven by tight inventory, particularly among starter homes, Zillow reported earlier this month.

Earlier this month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law that opens some individuals up to fines when they use home-sharing services like Airbnb to list their residences for short-term rentals, following an extended dispute between the company, the city, affordable housing advocates and the hotel industry. Airbnb responded immediately by filing suit in a federal district court in New York. It has previously sued San Francisco and Santa Monica, CA, after those cities passed legislation targeting the home-sharing website’s services.

Although Airbnb defends its market position as a low-cost, hotel alternative, it has previously discussed revenue-sharing with major landlords, and it partnered with real-estate listing website Realtor.com to let potential homeowners spend the night in a room in or near the neighborhood in which they were considering a purchase.