Is Airbnb about to tackle ‘the big frontier’ of long-term rentals?

While New York City isn’t the first jurisdiction to impose such laws, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky described the move as disappointing. But, is the action enough to spur Airbnb to hunt its prospects on the long-term market?

“Eventually, the big frontier for Airbnb is to go beyond travel. There’s an eventual opportunity for Airbnb to become a greater part of your daily life. Not just once or twice a year,” he shared.

Alluding to the company’s potentially imminent presence on the long-term rental market, he outlined such a move as a “huge opportunity”. Over the second quarter of this year, just 18 per cent of bookings on Airbnb are stays longer than 30 days, with stays exceeding three months even rarer.

Following its widespread successful implementation throughout the lengthy COVID-19, hybrid working means practically anyone can work from anywhere.

Mr Chesky believes this hybrid environment may or may not fade anytime soon, depending on who you listen to, and has opened an “unrecognised market of a month, two months, three months’ [stays], because people can work from laptops”.

Harnessing longer stay opportunities and potentially presenting Airbnb as a cost-friendly alternative to the traditional rental market appear to be the company’s next frontier.

On Australian soil, the move comes against a backdrop of increased regulation of the nation’s short-term market.

In late September, Byron Shire Council, arguably the nation’s most popular regional tourism hotspot, saw its plan to reduce the number of days STRA properties can be leased per year to 60, down from the current 180-day cap.

While the rules aren’t wide-reaching, as certain high-tourist areas of the council as well as hosted short-term rentals remain unaffected by the changes, its impacts certainly are.

Airbnb and other respective short-term rental providers have been used as a scapegoat for the region’s chronic property undersupply, according to Colin Hussey, chief executive at A Perfect Stay. Regardless of his position, the new regulation’s implementation limits Airbnb’s proficiency in the market.

In announcing the changes, Paul Scully, NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, said the region’s “shortage of housing largely affects key workers and permanent residents”.

Although he noted “these changes to short-term rental accommodation only address part of Byron’s housing supply and affordability issues”.

Byron Shire Council isn’t the only jurisdiction looking at scapegoating STRA in an effort to provide more long-term housing options. NSW requires short-term rental providers to register their property and pay a registration fee while also implementing a 180-day yearly stay cap.

Despite these regulations, and should Airbnb’s bid to provide longer term eventuate, a recent Queensland government inquiry into the effects of STRA on long-term rental markets concluded such properties have a “limited impact on rental affordability”.

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