Landlord exodus from Airbnb to traditional lets accelerates
Landlords are walking away from Airbnb in significant numbers in London even though it can mean a 35% reduction in rent, a leading estate agency has reported.
Landlords are walking away from Airbnb in significant numbers in London even though it can mean a 35% reduction in rent, a leading estate agency has reported.
Hamptons says it has seen a huge surge in properties being taken off Airbnb and offered as long-term lets and that within inner London there are currently 26% more rental homes available across the capital than at the same time last year, and 42% more within inner London.
This is likely to be repeated in many other UK cities and towns as weekend break holiday makers, foreign tourists and business people stay away from crowded urban areas until Covid dies away.
Hamptons International says 37% of Airbnb stock in London has been switched to long-term occupation since the lockdown ended, and that 12% of all properties being advertised for sale are former Airbnb units.
This is helping to depress rents overall as the market in some areas is flooded with new stock and landlords keen to secure a tenant at any cost.
Rents in the UK are flat overall but in London fell 4.2% year-on-year in July, sparked by a record rent fall of 8.4% within inner London.
“Three-quarters of landlords who have secured a long-term tenant [have signed] 12 month or longer contracts, [so] they are unlikely to return to the short let market any time soon,” says Aneisha Beveridge (left), Head of Research at Hamptons International.But the Airbnb to long-term renting phenomena is almost entirely in London and the coastal ‘staycation’ Airbnb market continues to boom.
