Spatial Variability of the ‘Airbnb Effect’: A Spatially Explicit Analysis of Airbnb’s Impact on Housing Prices in Sydney

Over the last decade, the emergence and significant growth of home-sharing platforms, such as Airbnb, has coincided with rising housing unaffordability in many global cities. It is in this context that we look to empirically assess the impact of Airbnb on housing prices in Sydney—one of the least af...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inISPRS international journal of geo-information Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 65
Main Authors Thackway, William Thomas, Ng, Matthew Kok Ming, Lee, Chyi-Lin, Shi, Vivien, Pettit, Christopher James
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2022
Subjects
Airbnb
Case studies
Cities
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Disruptive innovation
Housing
housing affordability
Housing prices
Medical research
Neighborhoods
Pandemics
Property values
Rentals
Sharing economy
spatial modelling
Spatial variations
Statistical analysis
Suburban areas
Suburbs
Sydney
Tourism
Uplift
Work platforms
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Over the last decade, the emergence and significant growth of home-sharing platforms, such as Airbnb, has coincided with rising housing unaffordability in many global cities. It is in this context that we look to empirically assess the impact of Airbnb on housing prices in Sydney—one of the least affordable cities in the world. Employing a hedonic property valuation model, our results indicate that Airbnb’s overall effect is positive. A 1% increase in Airbnb density is associated with approximately a 2% increase in property sales price. However, recognizing that Airbnb’s effect is geographically uneven and given the fragmented nature of Sydney’s housing market, we also employ a GWR to account for the spatial variation in Airbnb activity. The findings confirm that Airbnb’s influence on housing prices is varied across the city. Sydney’s northern beaches and parts of western Sydney experience a statistically significant value uplift attributable to Airbnb activity. However, traditional tourist locations focused around Sydney’s CBD and the eastern suburbs experience insignificant or negative property price impacts. The results highlight the need for policymakers to consider local Airbnb and housing market contexts when deciding the appropriate level and design of Airbnb regulation.
ISSN:2220-9964
2220-9964
DOI:10.3390/ijgi11010065