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Protest against Airbnb in Berlin-Kreuzberg: Platform drives prices
Photo: Norbert Schmidt / imago images
Politicians have long seen rental platforms like Airbnb to be a driver of the housing shortage in cities.
Now a study by the German Economic Research Institute (DIW) shows that the apartments offered on the rental platform actually have a significant influence on the rent level in Berlin.
According to the study, asking rents in the immediate vicinity increase by an average of 13 cents per square meter with additional Airbnb accommodation in Berlin.
This is mainly due to permanent Airbnb offers that are no longer available to the housing market.
That drives the prices.
With each new advertisement, a 100-square-meter apartment in Berlin is 156 euros more expensive per year.
The effect is slightly lower if you include all Airbnb accommodations in the calculation - not just permanently rented apartments: Then the rent in the immediate vicinity increases by an average of ten cents per square meter.
The rent increases vary greatly depending on the district: In Marzahn-Hellersdorf the effect is greatest at 46 cents per square meter, in Mitte it is lowest at eight cents per square meter.
Surprisingly, it turns out that the effect tends to be greater in districts where there are fewer Airbnb offers.
The authors of the study attribute this to the fact that with a high Airbnb density, for example, nighttime noise increases the negative effects on residents so much that regular living space is less in demand.
Apartments that become vacant could also meet with higher demand there than in areas with a low starting stock.
Berlin politics is having an impact
The researchers also investigated how Berlin's anti-Airbnb policy works.
In 2014, the Senate took up the fight against rental platforms and reactivated the so-called misappropriation ban, which makes renting an apartment for holiday purposes subject to approval - which in fact amounts to a ban.
If you offer your apartment without a permit, you can expect a fine of up to 100,000 euros.
In 2018, the rules were tightened again: Since then, hosts on Airbnb and similar platforms have to apply for a registration number from the district office and state this in every advertisement.
According to the DIW researchers, the law has had an effect.
With the introduction of the regulations, Airbnb offers in the city initially decreased by 23 percent in May 2016 before they increased again.
So some properties came back on the regular housing market, which caused rents to drop somewhat.
Since the introduction of the ban on misuse, the asking rents for a 65 square meter apartment in Neukölln have fallen by up to 38 euros per month.
In Berlin-Mitte the decrease was up to 25 euros per apartment.
However, the law is unlikely to affect the entire market.
At the beginning of 2020, around 25,000 apartments and rooms were advertised for rent on Airbnb per month in Berlin, which makes up less than one percent of the total housing supply in Berlin.
"Even with a complete ban, the housing shortage would not be significantly reduced," the authors write.
Nevertheless, the impact of Airbnb should not be underestimated.
Because measured by the number of newly built apartments, the size is quite relevant: In 2019, around 19,000 apartments were completed in Berlin and brought onto the market.
The total supply on Airbnb is roughly 1.3 times the annual construction output of the housing market.
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