In reference to Airbnb cannot beat revenue from long-term letting, company says by Colin Gleeson on 28 June 2017 in the Irish Times.
On Wednesday, Airbnb spoke to the Oireachtas housing committee claiming that their service does not affect the long-term letting in Dublin. The reason- on average an Airbnb host has to rent out their place well over 120 nights a year to beat the money made from long-term letting. This means hosts would rather long-term let their place than short-term let, if the goal was profit.
Critics of the company are claiming that property owners are ditching the long-term letting and going exclusively to short-term lets. This would not be helping Dublin in this case due to the massive housing shortage.
Patrick Robinson, the Airbnb director of public policy for EMEA, came to the committee with vast amount of information on hosts, statistics, and data on their company.
With the issue on Airbnb affecting long-term letting, it is not accounting for all the homes listed that are primary homes. Just because there is a vast number of listings does not mean those could be long-term lets. A majority of the properties listed are the owner renting out their home while they are away.
Even so, a lot of hosts are not looking into being a landlord but need some extra cash. A typical host in the city made 5,000 euros and hosted an average of 51 nights a year. People could be becoming an Airbnb host to help out with expenses or like the comfort of extra cash. Maybe they’re in need to as a last resort to paying a mortgage loan.
Dublin Airbnb hosts has taken in 353,800 guests total that has spent an estimated 196 million euros therefore this company has brought a lot of business to this city. Their European headquarters is located within Dublin as well.
The housing shortage has been a huge problem in Dublin as the demand is rising and the supply is depleting. As far as Airbnb really affecting the housing market crisis is up to the Oireachtas housing committee to decide. If the shortage is caused by short-term letting, it will raise the housing shortage which might translate into rising housing prices.