After Regulation a Year Ago, Now Fewer Airbnb Listings in Vienna

Since 2007, the short-term rental platform Airbnb has been offering affordable accommodations for travelers. "We generally see that the platform is growing, even in Austria - in Vienna, we have noticed a certain reluctance among hosts since last year, the rules are comparatively strict," said Ellen Madeker, the policy chief responsible for the German-speaking region and CEE of the publicly traded US corporation, to APA.

In the federal capital, exactly one year ago, on July 1, 2024, a building code amendment came into effect, which completely prohibits the commercial use of Airbnb in residential zones; in non-residential zones, it is limited to 90 days per year. Homesharing, that is, the private rental of one's own home, is allowed everywhere. "We welcome that homesharing is still possible," said Madeker.

Uncertainty Among Airbnb Providers in Vienna

According to its own statements, Airbnb is striving to cooperate with the city of Vienna. Furthermore, they are in close contact with the hosts. "We have informed the hosts - there was uncertainty about what certain rules are. We were very busy with that last year," reported the representative of the platform.

Restrictive measures against Airbnb are also being taken in cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, or New York. In some cases, the local population is up in arms due to drastically rising rents and property prices. "The debate about housing is currently being conducted very intensively internationally, including very emotionally, which I can understand because housing is a scarce commodity," said the Airbnb representative in conversation with APA.

Airbnb Does Not See Itself as a Driver of the Housing Crisis

However, she does not see her company as a driver of the housing crisis. According to Madeker, housing construction should be strengthened and vacancy addressed to get the shortage under control. "The vacancy rate in Austria is 13.3 percent of unused apartments according to Statistics Austria - this gives an indication of where problems lie and what explains the housing gap," said the Airbnb policy representative.

Listings of the type "entire accommodation" on Airbnb accounted for a comparatively low 0.7 percent of the nearly 4.9 million housing units in Austria in relation to vacancies, according to a current report from the company, which will be published on Tuesday. That would be around 34,400 across the entire country. Hotels that list on Airbnb are not included in this count, explained Madeker. In Vienna, the Airbnb share is twice as high as the Austrian average at 1.4 percent, but still low.

Airbnb does not disclose the exact number of platform accommodations in individual cities. Over 70 percent of hosts in this country rented out only one entire accommodation last year, according to the report.

Almost Two Million Guests Last Year

Short-term rentals via Airbnb were an important economic factor for Austria with almost 2 million guest arrivals in 2024, the Airbnb report further states. The share of bookers is still small compared to that of conventional accommodation establishments. For comparison: In domestic hotels, guesthouses, and holiday apartments, significantly more people stayed last year with 46.7 million guests.

The hosts who offer their accommodations on Airbnb contributed more than 1 billion euros to Austria's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 and generated more than 330 million euros in tax revenue, according to the report. The "typical additional income" from short-term rentals amounted to 5,400 euros per provider that year. This is the median value of all those who had at least one booking in 2024. Overall, hosts in Austria earned an additional 286 million euros in 2024.

Rents Rise Despite Restrictive Rules

"Regulation is simply not the solution to get a grip on rising rents," emphasized Madeker. "Barcelona, New York, and Amsterdam have very strict rules for short-term rentals and you see the same picture across the board - strong declines in listings and at the same time a significant increase in rents."

In Amsterdam, the number of listings on Airbnb fell by 54 percent between 2019 and 2024, and in Barcelona by 24 percent. Nevertheless, rents there increased by more than a third (34 and 37 percent, respectively) during that period. "In New York, hotel prices have skyrocketed and rents have still risen," Madeker outlined the consequences of the restrictive rules there. Madeker did not want to comment on the exact development in Vienna yet. "That would be a bit early." The data situation is not sufficient after a year of stricter regulation.

"Disruptive Business Model"

"Airbnb was a disruptive business model for a long time, and I can imagine that not everyone likes that," said Madeker, referring to the sometimes harsh criticism from the hotel industry. The claim that the accommodations have no or not enough regulations to meet is not true. Short-term rentals are also very "strictly regulated, with lists of requirements." "We have EU regulations on how platforms must share data with authorities in the future, national regulations in Austria, and local regulations, meaning the cities are taking it into their own hands," explained the head of policy.

The city of Vienna expects the EU regulation to create transparency. According to the information, Airbnb sees it the same way and hopes that the currently existing rules could potentially be relaxed again based on this data.

The impact of short-term rentals on the development of real estate prices is not addressed in the current report. "We also do not want real estate speculation, as it helps no one - neither Airbnb nor hosts nor the cities themselves," the platform representative noted.

Originated During the 2007 Economic Crisis

The idea for Airbnb originated during the 2007 economic crisis in the USA. The founders of the platform wanted to earn some extra money to pay their rent, according to the report at hand. More than 15 years later, there have been over 5 million hosts worldwide who "opened their doors to people from all over the world," counting over 2 billion guests.

Ellen Madeker is, according to her own information, responsible at Airbnb as "Head of Public Policy DACH & CEE" for relations with cities and government contacts in the German-speaking region and in the CEE countries, dealing with regulatory issues. "I am responsible for ensuring that we are good partners for cities, specifically when it comes to the application of the EU regulation."

(The conversation was conducted by Birgit Kremser/APA)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.