The amount of money Airbnb rentals are making in York has been revealed in a new report.
It also shows that the number of short holiday lets in the city is on the rise.
This is a contentious trend. While tourism is hugely important to York, the increasing number of properties being used as Airbnbs means fewer are up for rent to locals, pushing up prices.
According to the annual report of destination management organisation Make It York, the number of York listings on Airbnb and Vrbo (another online marketplace for holiday rentals) reached 2,125 in quarter two of this year.
That’s a 7% increase on Q2 2023 and a 33% rise on Q2 2019.
And the number has grown since then. “Listings continued to grow in July, reaching 2,183. However, B&Bs are increasingly using Airbnb in a bid to reach a wider audience,” the report says.
The average Airbnb occupancy in quarter 2 of 2024 was 65%.
Make It York also documents the money being charged for holiday rentals. The report says:
- the average daily rental reached a high of £161 in April but has been falling since
- average monthly revenue per property was £2,836 for Q2
- but this varies with demand through the year, from
- around £1,500 in January
- to almost £3,500 per month in July.
City leaders want curbs on short-term holiday lets. In May, the City of York Council leader Claire Douglas said: “We’ve committed to extending licensing of landlords and doing what we can to make sure Airbnbs and short term holiday lets aren’t as prolific in the city as they currently are, because really in some areas they are quite dominant.”
But she said it would require national legislation.
And York Central MP Rachael Maskell introduced a private members bill to Parliament in 2022 to license short term lets and allow councils to inspect and control them.
Ms Maskell said: “Failure to act on this issue is adding to the daily misery of families who can’t find a home and are finding themselves forced out of their local areas, as housing supply tightens and rents.”
The previous government had put forward its own legislation to control Airbnbs before the election.