Short Term Lets Generate £1bn For Scottish Economy
Short-term lets (STLs) contribute positively to Scotland’s economy, generating almost £1 billion in gross value added (GVA) and supporting nearly 30,000 jobs, according to BiGGAR Economics.
BiGGAR’s analysis claims the economic impact of Scotland’s self-catering industry has a negligible effect on housing. By accommodating visitors, STLs 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 STL 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.
This challenges the narrative that STLs 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 secondary lets.
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