Airbnb is stepping up to try to stop the regulatory wave against its business that occurs at all administrative levels. The short-term rental reservation platform once again defends that Tourist Use Housing (VUT) has no impact on the increase in house prices, and that, if all of them disappeared, housing prices would only decrease by 0 .4% in Barcelona and 0.3% in Madrid. “In Barcelona we have seen that the number of VUT has been reduced by more than half and the price of housing continues to increase,” he stated this Tuesday during a meeting with the media. the person responsible for Spain and Portugal at Airbnb, Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago.
The newcomer to the position believes that the debate on tourist apartments is flawed and that the administrations are not focusing on the real problem, which is the contrast between the creation of homes and the houses that are built every year, in addition to the decline in the construction of social housing. Nor does he believe that policies are being guided when it comes to encouraging other supply generators such as empty houses (14.4% of the 26 million homes in Spain), which are 30 times more in number than short-term rentals. duration. The American multinational asserts that VUTs in Spain represent 1.5% of the national housing stock and only 0.5% are used continuously, according to a study commissioned by the platform from PwC.
For Rodríguez de Santiago, pointing out tourist apartments as the culprit of the housing crisis situation in Spain is a “dangerous simplification”, which also puts at risk the economic impact they generate, which they estimate will reach 2 % of Spanish GDP, approaching 30,000 million euros due to the total spending of guests hosted by hosts, according to a report by Oxford Economics that raises spending at the national level to 128,000 million euros. European. Regarding employment, the same study indicates that in Spain, this tourism segment generated 400,000 jobs.
The Airbnb representative also asserts that the platform is not responsible for the tourist overcrowding experienced by the main Spanish capitals. He asserts, for example, that in Barcelona -where VUT places have been limited- there are six times more hotel places than tourist ones, and that the average price of hotel nights has shot up by more than 60% in recent times, in contrast to a recent study by Excelturwhich ensures that in 10 Spanish cities there are now more places in tourist homes than in hotels. “In ten tourist destinations, short-stay rentals managed to reduce rates by around seven euros per night in 2023. Banning them means giving hotels all the power to set prices and making it more difficult for families to travel,” says Rodríguez de Santiago.
When talking about Madrid, the spokesperson points out that the neighborhoods where rental prices increase the most are unrelated to tourist agglomerations (Villaverde, Vallecas, Usera where they rise by more than 20%) and denies that there is a displacement effect those locations from more central areas, where travelers have more influence.
Regulatory proposal
With these goals, Airbnb rejects the current regulatory proposals and is committed to promoting regulations for VUT that distinguish business activities through tourist rentals dedicated only to short-term rentals, occasional accommodation in family homes, as well as a single, harmonized, free and online registration system in accordance with “EU regulations”. It also points out the need to develop rules “based on evidence and data, proportionate, non-discriminatory and justified” and to apply regulations adapted to the needs of less frequented and known areas, “typically rural, in contrast to the complexity of the urban areas, and that promote the dispersion of trips throughout Spain.
Impact of Spanish registration
Airbnb gives the regulatory example of France in which the regulations for renting first and second homes are more lax and distinguish between occasional rentals (less than 120 days a year) and professional rentals. It also has a single digital registry, in contrast to the duplicity that it says is offered by the VUT registry that the Spanish Government launched on January 2, and that will require owners to certify using a code that their home has local and regional permits to advertise on the platform. Regarding this decree, Rodríguez de Santiago says that “some aspects of the regulation are still to be completed,” in addition to that “it does not seem like the best mechanism to regulate something that is already done differently in Europe.”
At the moment, the head of Airbnb claims to have no data on a possible drop in hosts on the platform due to the measure that seeks to pursue illegal offers. The decree promoted by the Ministry of Housing includes a transitional period of application for owners until next July 1.
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