A new independent analysis shows the substantial positive economic benefit of short lets – and their negligible effect on the wider housing market.
The report by BiGGAR Economics calculates that short-term lets contribute nearly £1 billion gross value added to the Scottish economy while supporting approximately 30,000 jobs. By accommodating visitors, short term lets generate economic activity across Scotland, with the local impacts exceeding residential use, supporting an additional £32,400 GVA per property.
Guests staying in self-catering accommodation, termed ‘secondary lets’ in Scottish legislation, also spend more than the average visitor to Scotland, with knock-on gains for related tourist and hospitality businesses.
Alongside this economic boost, the researchers also highlight that self-catering accounts for less than 1% of the country’s total housing stock.
A statement from BIGGAR claims this challenges the narrative that short term lets are fuelling Scotland’s housing crisis, with self-catering at only 0.8% of the country’s housing stock, too low a proportion to have a meaningful impact on local housing markets.
Moreover, according to the report, in every local authority area, economically inactive empty homes account for a larger proportion of total dwellings than from secondary lets.
Other key headlines form the report suggest that Edinburgh and Highland together account for 44% of the total beneficial economic impact but the sector’s benefits are dispersed throughout Scotland; while economically-inactive long term empty properties account for 3.6% of there Scottish stock, far more than short term lets.
Graeme Blackett, director of BiGGAR Economics, says: “This report shows that secondary lets make an important contribution to Scottish tourism and economy overall, supporting almost 30,000 Scottish jobs. Our research also concluded that it was clear that secondary lets are not a driver of the wider Scottish housing market.
“If short-term let regulations leads to a reduction in the supply of secondary lets, that will have a negative impact on the tourism economy, without delivering any solutions to Scotland’s wider housing challenges.”
And Fiona Campbell, chief executive of the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, adds: “This is yet more compelling evidence that short-term lets aren’t the main contributor of the housing crisis but are instead turbocharging local economies with a near £1bn positive impact while supporting 30,000 jobs.
“The current unbalanced regulatory framework does not reflect this reality and changes are needed before irreversible damage is done. Local councils should take heed of the report’s findings when considering their approach to planning policies and control areas to ensure the relatively small number of valuable short-term lets are protected.
“For policymakers, the message couldn’t be clearer: you can’t solve a housing crisis by producing a crisis in Scottish tourism by decimating local businesses that underpin local economies. Attention must shift to the real causes of the housing crisis.”