In 2023, Canadian renters collectively saved $192.4 million every single month — simply because their cities decided to limit how homeowners could rent out their properties on platforms like Airbnb. That striking figure comes from a new study by researchers at McGill University in Montreal, and it offers a straightforward idea for cities struggling with sky-high rents.
The research, published in the journal Regional Studies, looked at 309 neighborhoods across Canada that had put restrictions on short-term rentals of primary residences. These rules typically meant homeowners could only rent out their homes when they were actually living there, not during the entire year. The findings were clear: rents dropped where these rules existed.
Within a year of regulations taking effect, monthly rents in regulated neighborhoods were about $24 lower than they would have been without the rules. After two years, that number grew to $55 per month in savings — roughly $660 per year for a typical renter. Lead researcher David Wachsmuth, an associate professor in McGill's School of Urban Planning, called the evidence "iron-clad."
"We found absolute, iron-clad evidence that short-term rental regulations put downward pressure on rent," Wachsmuth said. "Lots of things cause housing to be expensive, but this is low-hanging fruit to manage those costs."
The benefits did not stop at city limits. In Montreal, which has strict short-term rental rules, rents also fell in nearby suburbs like Laval and Longueuil. Wachsmuth explained that housing markets are regional — when one city tightens rules, it affects the surrounding area too. The researchers noted that the longer regulations stayed in place, the more money renters saved, with the effect spreading across whole regions rather than staying contained in one neighborhood.
Short-term rentals have become a controversial issue in cities worldwide. Property owners can often earn more from short-term tourist rentals than from traditional long-term tenants. This creates pressure to convert housing stock away from permanent residents. The McGill study focused specifically on rules targeting primary residences — the most common type of ambitious regulation in Canada — rather than other kinds of short-term rental rules.
The researchers analyzed six years of data from 2017 to 2022, covering all Canadian urban regions and including the rental market dip and recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic. They used census data combined with rental listing information to measure the impact across many different city types and sizes.
Wachsmuth said the findings suggest that municipal governments have a practical tool within reach. While rent increases have many causes, regulating short-term rentals represents something cities can actually do, and do relatively quickly, to help ease housing costs for their residents.