The temporary rental platform Airbnb has come out to defend its business, which has been in the spotlight for some time due to the effect it has on rentals in the most stressed capitals. He has done so through letters that he has sent to the city councils of Madrid and Barcelona. The circumstances are not the same in each city – in June the Condal City council went down the middle street when announcing the gradual elimination of all licenses – but the arguments of the platform, which insists that it is not demonstrated the relationship between its presence in a place and the price of housing.
In the case of the capital of Spain they argue that Short-term rental accommodation represents less than 1% of the total housing stock. In turn, among Airbnb accommodations, those that are dedicated exclusively to short-term rentals are only 2 out of every 10 ads and represent only 0.3% of the total homes in the city, Airbnb says.
Meanwhile, the letter reads, «There are 97,178 empty homes in Madrid, which represent 20% of the total number of homes (according to the latest data published by the INE). More than half of the short-term rental accommodation in the city is spread across 20 neighborhoods outside the Center district, which represent no more than 1.2% of the total housing in those areas.”
According to Airbnb, the districts of the capital that have experienced the largest percentage increase in rental prices since 2015 (such as Puente de Vallecas, Latina, Usera, Villaverde and Carabanchel) have a minimum percentage of temporary rental supply (less than 0. 6% of the total housing inventory in those neighborhoods). For its part, in the Center district, which registers the highest percentage of short-term rental accommodation compared to the total number of homes (7.6%), the growth in prices has been in line with market increases, according to Airbnb.
It must be remembered that the Bank of Spain has a different opinion on this matter, and in April it published a report in which it stated that the existence of tourist apartments is one of the factors that puts upward pressure on the housing market. There are many opinions along this line, establishing a direct causal relationship, especially in those areas that are more stressed. Just a few weeks ago, for example, The College of Real Estate Agents of Córdoba reported that in that city the existence of short-term rental homes has increased prices by 20%.
They ask Barcelona to “reconsider”
In the case of Barcelona, it could not be otherwise, the letter has a much more severe tone. Airbnb asks the council led by socialist Jaume Collboni to “reconsider restrictive VUT policies” of the municipal governments of the last ten years, it is read verbatim, because none of these measures have been effective in the face of the problems of access to housing and mass tourism that Barcelona faces “and which served as an excuse for their implementation.”
To justify this, Aibnb recalls that, ten years after the VUT license moratorium, rental and property prices in the city have grown by 70% and 60% respectively.
That is why the company asks to “find real solutions to the problem of housing and mass tourism” and assures that these are debates prior to the presence of accommodation for tourist use in Barcelona.
The letter, which is signed by Sara Rodríguez, responsible for public policies for Spain and Portugal for the company, includes a reference to hotels, which have been the most active in the fight with tourist apartment platforms. «It is surprising that your government (that of Barcelona) continues to authorize and promote the opening of new hotels» and sees potential for new 5,000 places but wants to eliminate VUT licenses, the letter says, before confirming that 75% of tourists staying in Barcelona in 2023 were in hotels and hostels.
Airbnb opens to public-private collaboration
The company finishes off both letters by insisting on its commitment to “work with the administration and provide solutions” to the housing problem, which, in what may affect them, asks that they go through more public-private collaboration than through the restriction of their business.
In the case of Madrid – in Barcelona there is still a long way to go – they offer to collaborate on a regulation that protects the possibility that local hosts can host occasionally, to help in the creation of rules that facilitate the dispersion of tourism beyond the city center, and to “put an end to a model that only benefits a small group of companies, without solving the challenges of housing availability or the concentration of tourist activity”, among other things.
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