Airbnb in Warsaw – characteristics of the market and challenges for the city

Airbnb in Warsaw – characteristics of the market and challenges for the city

Many of the plat­forms asso­cia­ted with the sha­ring eco­no­my bring with them both bene­fits and new social chal­len­ges. This is also the case with the short-term ren­tal mar­ket, which expands the offer for touri­sts and pro­vi­des an oppor­tu­ni­ty for city resi­dents to make money. Howe­ver, the rapid growth of the plat­form can lead to vario­us pro­blems: higher housing pri­ces for local resi­dents, uncon­trol­led growth of tourism in par­ti­cu­lar neigh­bor­ho­ods, or a nega­ti­ve impact on the tourism sector.

Sha­re

RESEARCH METHODS AND DATA

AIRDNA DATA ANALYSIS
WEB SCRAPING
DESK RESEARCH AND LEGISLATIVE ANALYSIS
OTHER DATA SOURCES

INTERACTIVE MAP OF AIRBNB OFFERS IN WARSAW:
APRIL 2019

Colors based on pro­fes­sio­na­li­za­tion:
Blue: Sin­gle-listing (an offer belon­ging to a host with only one offer)
Black: Listings belon­ging to a host with 2–3 offers
Red: offers belon­ging to a host with min. 4 offers

MAIN FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

WARSAW IS DOMINATED BY OFFERS FROM PROFESSIONAL HOSTS

Of the near­ly 5,500 Airbnb listings in War­saw, as many as 57% are units who­se hosts have four or more apart­ments on the plat­form. This pro­ves the high level of pro­fes­sio­na­li­za­tion of short-term ren­tals in Warsaw.

AIRBNB OFFERS IN WARSAW BY NUMBER OF LISTINGS PER HOST

Sour­ce: DELab UW study

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF OFFERS IN RELATION TO TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

Sour­ce: DELab UW study

OFFERS ARE NOT EVENLY DISTRIBUTED ACROSS NEIGHBORHOODS

The geo­gra­phic distri­bu­tion of listings on Airbnb in War­saw shows that they are con­cen­tra­ted in two neigh­bor­ho­ods: Śród­mie­ście and Wola. Listings on Airbnb are spre­ad out near some of War­sa­w’s most popu­lar tourist attrac­tions and along sub­way lines.

IN THE ŚRÓDMIEŚCIE, AS MANY AS ONE IN 20 APARTMENTS WAS AT LEAST BRIEFLY ON AIRBNB IN 2018

Among all the apart­ments listed on Airbnb in War­saw, almost half are in the city cen­tre, whi­le almost 20% are in Wola. Com­pa­ring data from AirD­NA with data from the Cen­tral Sta­ti­sti­cal Offi­ce (GUS) on the num­ber of apart­ments in given districts of War­saw allows us to conc­lu­de that as many as one in twen­ty apart­ments in Śród­mie­ście was at least for a whi­le listed on Airbnb in 2018.

NUMBER OF UNIQUE AIRBNB LISTINGS PER 100 APARTMENTS, IN 2018

Sour­ce: DELab UW study

«TOP» HOSTS» SHARE OF VENUES, BOOKINGS AND REVENUE IN 2018

Sour­ce: DELab UW study

TOP 5% OF HOSTS REPRESENT OVER HALF OF BOOKINGS AND OVER 60% OF REVENUE

For listings acti­ve on Airbnb for 12 mon­ths, the median annu­al inco­me is 22K PLN, whi­le the ave­ra­ge is over 27K PLN. At the same time, a high con­cen­tra­tion of inco­me can be obse­rved among a small set of hosts: 5% of hosts were respon­si­ble for approx. 30% of loca­tions offe­red, approx. 56% of bookings and 60% of revenue.

ON WEEKENDS THERE IS MORE COMPETITION BETWEEN HOTELS AND AIRBNB

Airbnb pri­ces are lower than hotels, espe­cial­ly during the week, whi­le on the week­end the dif­fe­ren­ce decre­ases. Thus, it can be assu­med that whi­le on week­days hotels are orien­ted towards busi­ness clients, during week­ends they com­pe­te with Airbnb for clients coming to War­saw as tourists.

PRICES FOR TWO PEOPLE ON BOOKING.COM: BIG DROP IN PRICES OF HOTELS DURING WEEKENDS (FROM 1026 TO 718 PLN)

Sour­ce: DELab UW study

HOTELS CHEAPER THAN AIRBNB: ONLY OUTSIDE CITY CENTERS AND BUSINESS DISTRICTS

Sour­ce: DELab UW study

COMPETITION IS NOT EVENLY SPREAD ACROSS ALL OF WARSAW’S DISTRICTS

Hotels are much more expen­si­ve in the cen­ter (abo­ut 80% higher pri­ces than Airbnb), whi­le in the few neigh­bor­ho­ods away from the cen­ter it is the hotels that are more affor­da­ble. It is also worth noting that week­end hotel rate reduc­tions are higher in neigh­bor­ho­ods with more Airbnb listings ava­ila­ble. This sug­ge­sts a link betwe­en the pre­sen­ce of Airbnb listings and the hotel indu­stry having to respond to the emer­gen­ce of competition.

MOST AIRBNB LISTINGS EARNING MORE THAN TRADITIONAL RENTALS ARE PROFESSIONAL LISTINGS OF FULL HOMES, AVAILABLE FOR ALMOST YEAR-ROUND OCCUPANCY

Half of the apart­ments ren­ted thro­ugh Airbnb in Wola and Śród­mie­ście earn more than the annu­al rent of a one-bedro­om apart­ment thro­ugh tra­di­tio­nal means. For 2‑bedroom apart­ments, higher wages apply to 47% of Airbnb listings in Wola and 40% in Śródmieście.

ANNUAL INCOME HIGHER THAN… (BY HOST TYPE)

Sour­ce: DELab UW rese­arch; data on ren­tal pri­ces comes from gratka.pl estimates.

AIRBNB DENSITY (BARS) VS PRIMARY MARKET PRICES

Sour­ce: DELab UW study.

NUMBER OF AIRBNB LISTINGS AFFECTS SECONDARY MARKET HOUSING PRICES

The num­ber of Airbnb listings rela­ti­ve to the num­ber of apart­ments has an impact on real esta­te pri­ces in the secon­da­ry mar­ket: if the den­si­ty of Airbnb in Żoli­borz incre­ased to the level in Wola, the pri­ce of apart­ments would incre­ase by approx. 5–6%. Addi­tio­nal­ly, pri­ma­ry mar­ket pri­ces are high­ly cor­re­la­ted with Airbnb density.

LIMITING THE POSSIBLE AVAILABILITY OF AIRBNB LISTINGS TO 90 DAYS PER YEAR WOULD AFFECT MOST LISTINGS

This type of chan­ge would pri­ma­ri­ly affect the offe­rings in Śród­mie­ście. Howe­ver, it’s worth noting that hosts could redu­ce the num­ber of nights offe­red inste­ad of a reduc­tion in the offers them­se­lves. This could result in some apart­ments being bought for rent any­way, but stan­ding emp­ty for much of the year.

AIRBNB LISTINGS (PER 100 APARTMENTS) THAT WOULD BE AFFECTED BY THE 90-DAY ANNUAL RENTAL LIMITATION

Sour­ce: DELab UW study.
Presentation with detailed results of the UW DELab study
Comments on the discussion around the UW DELab report

Authors of the report

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