Understanding the spatiality of short-term rentals in Spain: Airbnb and the intensification of the commodification of housing

Abstract

This article analyses the spatiality of the proliferation of short-term rentals in Spain. It was based on geolocalised data for all the Airbnb listings in the country. A multiscale analysis enabled us to identify the socio-economic, tourism market and housing stock variables that have had the greatest influence on the proliferation of short-term rental offers. The results obtained confirmed a pattern of concentration that validates our central hypothesis: the uneven distribution of Airbnb listings has a strong spatial correlation with the potential for generating new profits in the housing market. At national level, the urban areas with the highest concentration of Airbnb listings are those with the highest tourist demand. These are the largest cities, coastal tourist regions and archipelagos. At the city level, clusters of Airbnb concentrations are located in central areas where short-term rentals tend to be more expensive. They are also located in working-class neighbourhoods with lower housing prices with great potential for investors due to their proximity to tourist sites. These findings provide new evidence of how the so-called sharing economy is playing a central role in the intensification of the commodification of housing and how this is correlated with the intensive touristification of urban areas.