Airbnb Hosts in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver Earned $430M Last Year: Here’s What We’re Reading

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Here’s what we’re reading today.

1. Airbnb hosts in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver earned $430 million last year

“Large commercial players are dominating the short-term rental market in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and raking in most of the revenue, according to research analyzing Airbnb activity.

“And contrary to the Airbnb narrative that the online booking service is about regular people sharing their homes to help pay the mortgage, there has been disproportionately large growth of full-time, entire-home listings that belong to hosts with multiple Airbnb properties, according to a copy of a draft report prepared by the McGill University School of Urban Planning.”

Toronto Star

2. Canada’s job market runs hot as jobless rate hits 9-year low

“The unemployment rate fell to 6.3 per cent, the lowest since October 2008, as the labour market added another 10,900 jobs during the month, Statistics Canada reported from Ottawa. The total increase over the past year of 387,600 is the biggest 12-month gain since 2007.

“The jobs figures will bolster confidence the country is quickly running out of economic slack and higher Bank of Canada interest rates may be needed to cool off growth, even with a separate report out Friday showing the country’s trade sector disappointed in June. The central bank already raised rates last month, and investors are pricing in at least least one more hike by the end of this year.”

The Globe and Mail

3. Have smartphones destroyed a generation?

“The arrival of the smartphone has raThe secret life of the urban banana

“Millions of bananas arrive every week in New York City. It takes a lot to get them from the boat to the bodega.”

There’s always money in the banana stand!

New York Times

5. Here be the land of the large adult son

“In January, 2015, shortly after Mike Huckabee announced that he was exploring a second bid for the Presidency, a Twitter user with the handle @JuliusIrvington posted an old Huckabee family photo in which the politician, wearing a blue-and-white striped shirt, sits next to his wife on a wooden bench. Behind them, three kids smile at the camera. On the right is a young Sarah Huckabee (now Sanders). Next to her are her two brothers, John Mark and David, who are the same size as their father and wear matching striped shirts. ‘My favorite thing in the world is that Mike Huckabee literally has large adult sons,’ @JuliusIrvington wrote.”

The New Yorker