It has already become a summer of trouble for house-sharing and hospitality marketplace Airbnb, as well as competitor VRBO, both of which are seeing decreasing stays and lowered revenues that are sparking fears of a possible housing crash.
While in years past both Airbnb and VRBO would be seeing many additional stays across the United States this time of year, the opposite is happening now. Homeowners who rent out rooms and spaces are seeing dwindling interest, which is driving down prices for stays.
In popular destination cities like Phoenix, Ariz., and Austin, Tex., revenues per listing have dropped by nearly 50 percent, according to the most recent data from AllTheRooms, which compared Airbnb revenues per listing May 2022 to those in May 2023.
Airbnb denies that this is true, however, claiming that the true figure is just above three percent. Here is what the company said in a recent statement to Newsweek about the alleged state of the company:
"The data is not consistent with our own data. As we said during our Q1 earnings, more guests are traveling on Airbnb than ever before, with Nights and Experiences Booked growing 19 percent in Q1 2023 compared to a year ago."
(Related: The parents of conservative activist and filmmaker Lauren Southern were cancelled by Airbnb earlier this year simply for being "closely associated" with her.)
Will an Airbnb and VRBO collapse make housing more affordable? Maybe
If enough Airbnb hosts are losing their normal stream of guests during this busy time of year, many of them could end up selling off their extra properties, which would add much more inventory to the national housing stock.
It is unclear precisely how many second or third homes people own that stand to be sold off if Airbnb guest stays continue to decline. What we do know, though, is that it could have a substantial impact on the country's housing stock, possibly making housing more affordable.
For those on the landlord side of the trade, this would mean decreased housing values, or what some might describe as a "crash." Those on the renter side, meanwhile, could finally have a chance at owning property – but will an Airbnb collapse truly rectify the nation's overpriced and scarce housing crisis? The answer is maybe.
The real reason why housing prices are out of control across the United States has to do with private equity firms like BlackRock and Vanguard gobbling it all up as just another holding in an attempt to maintain the wealth of the rich amid an inflationary crisis.
The Federal Reserve's endless money-printing schemes over the past several decades have so diluted the pool of dollars that each one is worth increasingly less and less. This is what creates inflation – or in late-stage capitalism hyperinflation, which would seem to be looming.
Many suggested the revenue shortfall would mean more houses would come on the market and help reverse soaring housing prices, which have become unaffordable for many Americans," one media outlet reported about the issue.
"But like private equity investment in rental homes, short-term rentals like Airbnbs only play a small part in what's a much bigger problem."
Right now, despite a very slight decline compared to a year ago, housing prices across the U.S. are at their most unaffordable ever. According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, annual payments for a median home now make up 41 percent of the median income of those living there.
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