UK: Airbnb is expanding its long-term rental marketplace into the UK with immediate effect, via a partnership with real estate developer and manager, Greystar.
The company debuted its Airbnb-friendly apartments [AFA] listing service back in 2022, when it initially partnered with 250 buildings in cities such as Houston, Phoenix, Jacksonville and New York City to enable renters to lease out their apartments on a part-time basis through the platform [when they are not using the property themselves]. Partners on the programme already include Greystar, Starwood Capital Group, GoldOller Real Estate Investments, Milhaus, Space Craft, Equity Residential and UDR Inc.
From today, tenants in almost 1,500 flats across three properties managed by Greystar in London will be able to sublet their homes on a part-time basis. Prospective tenants will be obliged to sign a contract with their landlord to establish key hosting rules for subletting [including limits on the number of nights that a property can be rented out each year], and they will also be required to share between 10 and 25 per cent of their rental revenue with landlords.
Airbnb said that it is “actively discussing” partnerships with more landlords to join the platform and rolling out the service to other parts of the UK.
It comes in response to mounting criticism of Airbnb’s impact on local communities, including supposedly contributing to higher rental and housing prices and housing shortages in markets around the world.
Jesse Stein, global head of real estate at Airbnb, said: “It’s no secret that a lot of tenancy agreements say do not sublet [so] unfortunately, renters have had a challenge historically to become Airbnb hosts.”
The long-term rental segment is already one of the fastest growing across Airbnb’s offering and the firm believes that it can cater especially to younger renters who have been priced out of renting due to the cost of living crisis.
In April, Airbnb said that it wanted to open up home sharing for renters, as well as homeowners, and that it was advocating for renter-friendly short-term rental policies in the United States, as well as making a $100,000 donation to an organisation that helps renters stay in their homes. At a time when a record half of all US renters had said that they were cost-burdened, the company is now keen to ensure that communities nationwide adopt sensible short-term rental policies that allow renters to share their space to earn supplemental income.
More than five million hosts around the world currently share their home on Airbnb to help supplement their income.
Having recently teased further moves “beyond accommodation” in 2025 and beyond, Airbnb has been the subject of severe restrictions in core markets such as New York City, Lisbon and Barcelona – the latter where the home-sharing platform has urged politicians to reverse a potential ban on holiday rentals by late 2028.
