Airbnb Faces New Curbs in Canada After Sharp Rise in Rents
- Rental platforms ‘mean fewer homes for Canadians’: Freeland
- Comments follow British Columbia plan on short-term rentals
Rents rose 7.3% over the past year, Statistics Canada said in its inflation report Tuesday — 8.4% in British Columbia, which includes greater Vancouver, one of the country’s most expensive housing markets.
Photographer: Jennifer Gauthier/BloombergCanada’s government is examining new measures to rein in short-term rental services such as Airbnb Inc. as policymakers try to cool inflation in apartment and house rents.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday the government is looking at what laws or regulations it can bring in to curb the use of platforms that offer rented accommodation for a few days or weeks at a time. She heaped praise on the province of British Columbia, which this week introduced a proposed law to restrict many residents from renting their investment properties on Airbnb, Flipkey and similar services.