'Public Concern': Working Paper Examines Airbnb's Influence on Housing Market Woes

Due to the current affordability crisis affecting the housing market, some are wondering if Airbnb has an effect, potentially raising home prices and rental rates. A new, working paper suggests Airbnb does in fact influence affordability.

In conversation with Wall Street Journal's Lisa Ward, study co-author and assistant professor of economics at the University of California Los Angeles Dr. Edward Kung stated, "if a local resident looks for a long-term rental unit they will find that about one in 13 potentially available homes are being placed on Airbnb instead of being made available as a long-term rental. And that’s the median."

“That may sound minuscule, but between 2012 and 2016, rents rose by about 2.2 percent annually [on average in the 100 areas], so a 0.39 percent increase in that context isn’t very small at all,” says Edward Kung, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California Los Angeles and one of the study’s authors. The same is true for home prices, which rose by an average of about 4.8 percent annually in the 100 areas, he adds.

Read more