Although short-term rentals have proven a bright spot amid the COVID-19 crisis, the pandemic did have a negative impact on global Airbnb supply.
According to an analysis from AirDNA, Airbnb – which saw its supply more than double over the past four years, up to 5.4 million active listings compared to 2.3 million at the beginning of 2017 – lost 5% of its total listings from January through June of 2020.
Since that period, however, total listings have recovered and grown 2.5% off of pre-pandemic levels.
As of February 2021, a mix of mountain and coastal locations gained the most number of new available listings, which are defined as the number of active listings (the number of listings viewable on Airbnb with at least one prior booked night) that have calendar availability or at least one booked day in the month.
Growing supply in destination/resort areas has primarily benefited larger property managers, who tend to manage a high percentage of units in those locations. Globally, large operators – those with 21-plus units – increased both their available unit counts by more than 14% over the past year, while available listings declined by 9% for hosts with just one unit, which tend to be located in large urban markets.
Both large and mid-size U.S. cities saw a decline in available listings, while urban areas were the only location type to also register a decline in active listings. Currently, urban areas make up just 20% of Airbnb supply in the U.S., compared to 40% in 2016.
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Overall, active listings have decreased the most in Canada, where 40% of units were concentrated in three cities – Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver – at the start of 2021.
Active unit counts grew the most in France, where almost all areas of the country have seen a growth in active units.
Meanwhile, of the top 25 largest global short-term markets, Amsterdam has lost the most available listings, -45% as of February 2021. However, the market is likely to see a faster rebound in supply due to the relatively low changes in active listings.
Markets including New York, Toronto and Beijing all have significant declines in both active and available listings, which suggests the declines are more likely to be permanent.
In the U.K., AirDNA says the April lockdowns and subsequent travel restrictions through June “seriously limited” the number of available listings. However, the listings reappeared once travel bans were lifted.
Outlook
According to AirDNA, demand for short-term rentals is expected to show a significant recovery in 2021 as vaccines continue to roll out and pent-up demand accelerates booking globally.
In the near future, the types of markets that performed best in 2020 will continue to thrive in 2021. Meanwhile, urban locations will likely continue to under-perform in the first half of the year.
“The pandemic has drastically changed many established Airbnb trends, especially in major Airbnb markets. While supply changes have varied, for the most part, shifts directly reflect how the nature of COVID-19 has transformed traveler behavior,” says Jamie Lane, vice president of research at AirDNA.
“As vaccines continue to roll out and pent-up demand accelerates bookings globally, we expect to see supply, growth, particularly in locations that performed best in 2020.”