STAs and their effect on housing affordability in PEC

A study on the effects of short term accommodations on the housing market in Prince Edward County suggests that they may not be as responsible for the high housing market as you might think.

In a presentation to Committee of the Whole on Wednesday, Professor David Wachsmuth of McGill University said the COVID-19 pandemic and second home sales actually bore more of the responsibility for affordable housing issues.

Still, one of his solutions to creating more affordable housing in the County is to prioritize principal residence STAs so that revenue will be earned by local families rather than outside commercial firms.

“The trade-offs that are on the table between short term accommodations and housing afforability issues, are much larger with dedicated short term accommodations than they are with casual home-sharing arrangements. And so, however kind of strict or permissive the regulations are gonna be, on the whole we should be prioritizing people operating home-sharing arrangements out of their own homes as opposed to commercial-dedicated short term accommodations.”

“High on that list, clearly, is gonna be multi-family housing in the towns. You know, which would be a good job of meeting the needs of people who are living and working here but are gonna be less attractive as those investment properties.”

Professor Wachsmuth also noted that five years ago, up to half of home sales were turned into STAs, but the number has fallen since then to about 25% last year.

On the subject of STA rentals, he called the County an intensely unique market, noting that while reservations at STAs have dropped about 25% during the COVID-19 pandemic, prices for those same STAs have increased by about 75%, something that hasn’t happened anywhere else.