In the News
Summer rentals down 25 percent
(June 8, 2023) The boom in the Nantucket summer rental market over the last two years appears to be in the rear-view mirror, according to data produced by the Nantucket Association of Real Estate Brokers.
Summer rentals islandwide are down 25 percent so far this year after a 27 percent jump from 2019 to 2021 and an 8 percent drop last year.
Carrots and sticks: Vacation rentals and the creation of affordable, workforce housing
More communities across the nation are coming up with creative solutions that leverage vacation rentals to boost affordable and workforce housing stocks.
“As rent and mortgage prices continue to skyrocket, policymakers are really looking for anything they can do to alleviate the housing crisis,” said Noah Stewart, head of advocacy at Expedia Group. “While short-term rentals have been repeatedly shown to have a very minimal effect on rents, mortgages, and the overall availability of housing stock, local officials continue to target them as broader housing issues continue to grow.”
Why Isn't The STR Workgroup Considering Other Options?
It's twice now that island voters have rejected zoning changes to allow full-time STRs to operate anywhere on the Island. The STR workgroup must think that three times is the charm because its draft articles propose the same thing.
The workgroup is spending hours discussing how many STRs any human being can have on Nantucket and how to protect all existing corporate STRs, and the centerpiece of the proposal is plain and simple: to gut our residential zoning.
Mr. President, What Options Does ACK Now Want, Specifically?
To the editor: Carl Jelleme, President of ACKNow and the owner of the largest heavy construction company on the island, recently opined in the Nantucket Current that the Short Term Rental Work Group (STRWG) is not doing enough to restrict short-term rentals, in similar fashion to Emily Kilvert’s letter in the May 25th Inquirer & Mirror. His inflammatory attack denigrates the draft proposals of the STRWG saying, “...the centerpiece of the proposal is plain and simple: to gut our residential zoning.”.
He goes further to make unfounded allegations that the Work Group is beholden to “real estate lobbies and commercial STR interests”. He demands that the Work Group, Select Board, Planning Board, and Finance Committee “....should disclose their financial interests tied to STRs”.