Homesharing and London’s housing market

Homesharing and London’s housing market

Article

London’s housing crisis is the result of failure to build enough homes to keep pace with growing demand. Rising unaffordability is the result, with many families priced out of the market. At the same time, tourism in the capital is booming, with a record 31.5 million visitors in 2015 alone. This has helped to drive up the use of homesharing platforms, which provide accommodation within Londoners’ own homes.

Using data from Airbnb – the capital’s biggest homesharing website – we have assessed the impact of homesharing activity on London’s housing market. Our analysis, the first of its kind to use actual bookings data, finds that homesharing’s impact on housing supply in London is currently negligible.

Research by Airbnb suggests that homesharing makes positive contributions to London’s economy, and this view has been supported by the government. This report argues that enforcement of existing rules must be prioritised, so that support for the sector can be provided in such a way that helps the capital to succeed and thrive – as well as to remain a good place for its residents to call home.

Related items

  1. A sign for a polling station next to a block of flats

    Modernising elections: How to get voters back

    Elections are the defining feature of modern democracy. They are the process by which we express a desired future en masse. It is the mass dimension that matters most; it is the mass dimension that is receding.

  2. Bridge to the future: how to get the NHS through the winter and ready for reform

    NHS staff across the country are gritting their teeth. Christmas parties have come and gone, but a more threatening annual tradition looms once again – the NHS ‘winter crisis’. This period, renowned for long waits and increased mortality,…

  3. The great enabler: transport’s role in tackling environmental crises and delivering progressive change

    In this special issue of IPPR Progressive Review we bring together leading political, academic and civil society thinkers to consider transport in modern Britain and its role in delivering a healthier, greener, more prosperous and…