Airbnb's First Senior Housing Economist

12.10.2023 - 20:51 / skift.com / Dennis Schaal

Airbnb is launching a housing research program and to hear its first senior housing economist tell it, one goal is to clear up civic “misunderstandings” about the housing market and Airbnb’s role in it.

Taylor Marr, most recently the deputy chief economist at real estate brokerage Redfin, has been at Airbnb for about a month.

In an exclusive news interview with Skift on Thursday, Marr downplayed Airbnb’s negative impact on affordable housing, citing a Conference Board of Canada study published Wednesday that found no connection between Airbnb and rent fluctuations across 19 cities.

But Marr did acknowledge what some would say is obvious: That Airbnb does have negative impacts on some communities. It’s a high priority at Airbnb to come to terms with cities so it can avoid New York City-like bans.

“In some places, there may be a role where Airbnb needs to work with cities to come up with regulations that minimize any negative impacts to communities,” Marr said. “And if we find that there are some communities in which Airbnb is negatively impacting, then we want to work with cities to implement regulations that better target those specific issues.”

Depending on the city and issue, solutions might include implementing a tax or a nightly cap on rentals, he said.

The following is a Q&A with Marr, editing for clarity and length:

Dennis Schaal: So tell me tell me about your new role. What is your function?

Taylor Marr: I just joined as senior housing economist. So my role will be coming alongside all the teams, including data science, at Airbnb to leverage their data. I have a big background in data science and data analysis. The goal is to really make sense of the housing market or short-term rental market and how Airbnb really fits into that bigger broader housing perspective.

Schaal: How might this data be used?

Marr: Probably in many ways. We’re gonna be launching a housing research program on how Airbnb or the short-term rental market fits within, and relates to, the long-term rental market, to the for-sale market, and to land use more broadly within cities. We’re going to collaborate with external partners as well, experts in the housing industry that I have worked with in the past, as well as others that could leverage Airbnb data to best help cities make good decisions about housing policies.

Cities all over the world are facing a housing crisis. They have housing affordability challenges; sometimes it’s just for very low income workers. Sometimes it’s about home ownership opportunities. Sometimes it’s about access to the best neighborhoods. All the challenges are unique. But the thing that we want to do is put all this expertise together with research and help cities make informed decisions, help