Homesharing is a convenient scapegoat for Hobart’s rent crisis

BRENT THOMAS: To blame Airbnb for Hobart’s rental crisis is wrong and misleading.

Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky speaking during an event in San Francisco this week. Picture: AP/ERIC RISBERG

AMERICAN journalist H.L. Mencken is quoted saying that “for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong”.

So it seems today in the complex debate about housing affordability and the rental market in Hobart.

Some are claiming the current crisis is the fault of homesharing generally, and Airbnb specifically.

Put simply, trying to blame Airbnb for housing unaffordability is wrong, reductionist and misleading.

The attempt to scapegoat Airbnb hosts is not based on facts or hard evidence but rather anecdotes and back-of-the-napkin analyses.

Those pushing the anti-homesharing agenda are those who stand to gain the most from any wind back of fair, commonsense rules.

Let’s set the record straight and address some mistruths being peddled.

Firstly, expensive housing is not a new problem in Tasmania or Hobart. It is an issue that has existed long before Airbnb and homesharing arrived on the scene.

Secondly, homesharing makes housing more affordable not less. It is in our very DNA. Our community was founded during the global financial crisis by three young people who were just trying to pay their rent.

To this day, homesharing is allowing Tasmanians to take typically their biggest expense — the cost of their housing — and turn it into extra income to pay the mortgage or bills.

Thirdly, on the whole there is not an incentive for a landlord to change a stable long-term rental into a short-term rental. The numbers just do not stack up.

The median rent in Hobart is far greater than what the typical Airbnb host is earning. The median rent in Hobart is $395 per week or $20,540 a year. In contrast, the typical Airbnb host in Hobart earns just $247 per week or $12,850 a year.

Your typical landlord would be better off by $148 per week or $7696 a year by renting rather than listing their property on Airbnb.

Fourthly, as highlighted in the Mercury, our community continues to grow in Tasmania and around the world because people want unique and authentic experiences when they travel. But, despite all our growth and popularity, Airbnb is not a significant factor in the Tasmanian housing market.

Our community of 1100 listings — not 876, as reported — represents 1.17 per cent of the local housing market. To put that in perspective, there are eight times as many empty homes or “ghost homes” in Hobart as Airbnb listings.

Fifthly, focusing on the number of listings alone is like only telling half the story.

The number of listings does not equal the number of properties. A host can have multiple listings that all refer to their own home.

For example, a host can share a room in their home when they are present, and the entire home when they travel. This means they have two separate listings but only one property.

Finally, the data produced by the likes of Inside Airbnb cannot be relied on or trusted.

All scraped data reports are a classic case of garbage-in, garbage-out. For instance, scrapers cannot factor in how hosts use their calendars, meaning they cannot differentiate between when a host has someone staying or the host has “blocked” the night.

Hosts might block a night to allow a friend or family member to stay in a spare room or when they simply want a break.

Housing affordability is a wickedly complex public policy problem. A mature, prudent debate must look at the drivers of affordability, like population growth, the taxation system and the planning system.

Knee-jerk or ill-conceived policy solutions have the very real prospect of hurting people who depend on home sharing as their economic lifeline, not to mention damage the local tourism economy and threaten local jobs.

As such, we should beware of anyone pushing clear and simple answers.

Brent Thomas is Airbnb’s head of public policy for Australia and New Zealand.