“The picture is very similar to many cities around the world,” said founder Murray Cox from New York.
The listings for entire homes nearly comprise the 2,900 additional units required in the City of Victoria between 2020 and 2025 to fill growing housing demand, according to the Capital Regional District’s housing needs assessment for the City of Victoria.
“There are people building up property portfolios, whether they’re in apartment buildings or individual houses,” said Cox.
The consulting firm wrote that the then 945 entire unit listings had no impact on the availability or affordability of rental stock in Victoria, which at that time had a vacancy rate of less than 0.7 per cent.
Cox said there are several potential policy solutions to the market strain of short-term rental housing on a given housing market.
A registration file of short-term rentals is important for this work, Cox said.