Pursuits
Vancouver Plans More Airbnb Limits to Ease Near-Zero Home Supply
- Hosts will have to obtain business licenses, pay more tax
- New measures to be introduced in ‘next few months,’ mayor says
Vancouver's Plans to Cool Housing Market
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Vancouver is preparing to impose more restrictions on Airbnb Inc. and other short-term rental operators as Canada’s priciest housing market seeks to ease its near-zero supply of homes to let.
“We’re going to require a business license for anyone doing short-term rentals,” Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said Friday in an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. “We don’t want to see units taken out of the rental pool and not effectively taxed like all the rest of the hospitality industry.” He declined to specify a rate, saying it was still under discussion. In the region, short-term rentals face as much as a 3 percent tax.