If Portland Rents Keep Going Up, Maybe Thank Airbnb, Says New Analysis

If you thin it's tough finding a decent rental in Portland now, a new analysis suggests it's going to get worse. And, if that happens, you might just have Airbnb to thank for it.

According to the website, FiveThirtyEight.com, around 15 percent of the 2,700 Portland listings on Airbnb basically are operating as full-time vacation rentals.

"Housing advocates have become increasingly concerned that what’s good for visitors is bad for residents," the website reports. "As more landlords rent out their units to out-of-towners on Airbnb instead of offering them to locals to live in, they are exacerbating already severe housing shortages."

FiveThirtyEight defines "commercial" renters - aka those operating as full-time vacation rentals - as those that rented at least 180 days a year. They say the definition was developed by the New York State Attorney General in 2014 and has become the accepted standard.

The website said Airbnb disputed their analysis but declined to provide their own numbers.

Portland's 15 percent is the second highest percentage of any city examined by FiveThirtyEight except for Honolulu. The site's analysis also found that these vacation rentals account for 40 percent of Airbnb revenue in Portland.

The website says that experts suggest focusing on revenue as opposed to listings because a listing could be a couch rented a couple of days a year and that wouldn't have an impact on the housing market.

Portland has tried to rein in the practice, passing a law requiring people who list on Airbnb to live in their homes at least nine months a year. Last year, Willamette Week did an analysis finding there was a lot of abuse and little enforcement.

"Critics argue commercial listings take off the market units that would otherwise be available to local residents, thereby reducing the supply of housing and driving up rents," according to FiveThirtyEight.

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