It might be possible for Airbnb and landlords to play nice after all, at least evidenced by Brookfield Property Partners’ plan to invest as much as $200 million in the Niido Powered by Airbnb communities.
On a call today with journalists, Niido CEO Harvey Hernandez says the joint venture between the real estate company and Niido will see Brookfield funneling about 20 million into the first apartment complex – slated to open in Kissimmee, Fla., next year – with the remainder of the 200 million invested over the next 18 months.
The Niido concept, announced earlier this year and in which Airbnb is a partner, is designed with home-sharing in mind. Apartments will be leased as long-term rentals, and tenants will be able to rent their units for up to 180 days a year, an idea that will “help people share the way they live and how they live free,” Hernandez says.
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Tenants will use Niido tech and services - the Niido app will be integrated with Airbnb to assist tenants and guests with things like keyless entry and calendar management – to “monetize their unit when they decide to travel or do home share.”
The Brookfield investment will hopefully allow Niido to scale quickly (Silverpeak Real Estate Partners has also committed $20 million of equity), and Hernandez says the plan is to have four communities open by the end of 2018. He says the Southeast remains a big focus with announcements to come in the next few months.
Airbnb head of global policy and communications Chris Lehane says overall Airbnb is seeing growing support from the housing industry, which is learning to see home-sharing as a “powerful way attract new tenants” and address tenants’ concerns.
“It’s pretty interesting to see the trajectory over the past two, two-and-a-half years. The housing industry was generally keeping their distance,” he says. “Flash forward to today and you have industry leaders – including industry visionaries – who are lining up to knock on the door.”
Airbnb’s strides into 2018 come on the heels of what Lehane says was a profitable year for the company, noting that the third quarter of 2017 was the most profitable in its history. Much of the company’s growth can be attributed to China, which has grown 100x in just over three years.