Moss Side in Manchester is not much of a tourist destination. I suppose you could visit the site of Man City’s old Maine Road ground, or maybe Anthony Burgess’s childhood home, but there is not much to attract visitors. It therefore came as a surprise to learn from Isaac Rose of the Greater Manchester Tenants Union that in one Moss Side street five of the last eight house sales have been for short-term lets. Four are already on Airbnb, the fifth is still being refurbished.

Isaac, together with others from the tenants’ federation and academics from Manchester and Sheffield, have co-authored a report published last month on the impact of Airbnb and other STR (short-term rental) platforms in Manchester. Back in the summer I wrote in this column about the impact of Airbnb on tourist hotspots such as Edinburgh and Barcelona, but this report suggests that it is a much wider problem.

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