Short-term rentals in Whitehorse: UPGo city spotlight

Abstract

In the last several years, short-term rental (STR) platforms such as Airbnb have begun to transform residential neighbourhoods across Canada. In this brief report, we shine a data spotlight on the City of Whitehorse. The most populous city in the three territories, it also receives proportionally large tourism flows, and there has been increasing concern in the city that the growth in short-term rentals has come at the expense of long-term housing availability. We examine active daily listings, the spatial distribution of listings, which STR platforms are used in Whitehorse, the prevalence of different listing types, a breakdown of listings by number of bedrooms, revenue distribution and commercial operators, housing loss caused by conversions to STRs, and listings likely not operated by the principal resident.