Home-sharing platform Airbnb saw a massive rebound in 2021 as the travel industry’s recovery from the pandemic scaled rapidly. This upward trajectory is expected to continue throughout 2022.
According to Airbnb’s CEO and co-founder, Brian Chesky, the strong showing reflects broader trends. In a quarterly-earnings call this winter, Chesky said: “Something bigger than a travel rebound is happening. The world is undergoing a revolution in how we live and work. The pandemic has suddenly untethered tens of millions of people from the need to go into an office. Technologies like Zoom make it possible to work from home. Airbnb makes it possible to work from any home, and this newfound flexibility is bringing about a revolution in how we travel.”
Chris Linsell, senior real estate writer for TheClose.com, spoke at the 2021 REALTORS® Conference & Expo on trends in the industry. He said that analysts predict that Airbnb will increase its inventory by 25% in 2022, and that many of those housing units are going to come from the residential real estate market.
“Airbnb is not just selling [its] product to consumers, [it is] selling to the providers of the product,” Linsell said. “[It is] selling twice without holding [its] own inventory. This unique model opens an incredible level of scalability.”
Linsell explained that converting more inventory to short-term rentals will likely have a net-negative impact on housing availability and affordability unless developers work to bring new options to the market to specifically meet these needs.
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Photo: iStock.com/GoodLifeStudio
