What Airbnbs is actually doing to housing prices in Maine

More Mainers across the state have started renting their homes to vacationers on Airbnb and other short-term rental sites. But many wondered if their decisions could contribute to more expensive housing for everyone.

More than half a million guests stayed at an Airbnb in Maine in 2019, the latest year available, generating $91 million for hosts, according to company data. It is difficult to determine an identical effect of Airbnb units in all neighborhoods and communities, but studies in recent years show a clear trend of decreasing supply of long-term rentals and likely increasing rental costs. and purchase.

Maine faces a housing crisis that has made many communities unaffordable for middle-class residents and the growing popularity of Airbnbs could pose a problem for buyers and renters, especially in tourist communities such as Portland and Bar Harbor, which began to regulate them. But restaurants, bars and shops rely on the fact that vacationers can easily stay in Maine and communities that over-regulate the market lose business.

Although people stay in short-term rentals in Maine, many of Airbnb’s best places are clustered along the coast of Maine. The county with the highest per-capita stay rate in 2019 was Hancock County, where 82,700 guests far exceeded the county’s 2020 population of 55,000. The company no longer releases data by community, said a spokesperson.

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