With the rise of the sharing economy and increasing worldwide tourism, people are using homes to provide accommodation to millions of tourists globally every year. In London alone, the number of listings on Airbnb has grown by 60% in the 12 months to August, to over 53,000 listings, according to the Residential Landlords Association (RLA).  

Tom Simcock, senior researcher at the RLA, compiled a research report on the subject. He says: “This research seeks to examine how the sharing economy has changed over the past 12 months (and) discusses the findings from a survey of 1,463 landlords, which examines firstly, tenant subletting on online platforms without permission, and secondly, investigates landlords changing their letting strategy from long term lets to short term lets.”

The RLA report also analyses the latest secondary data available on Airbnb listings in London from InsideAirbnb. It found that the number of entire homes/apartments listed on Airbnb has increased by 54% in over 12 months, with an 8% increase in the number of these listings that are available for over 90 nights per year. This has in effect removed over 12,000 homes from the long term rental market in the capital.