Is Airbnb on The Brink of Collapse?

A housing market analyst recently provided insight into the state of Airbnb and more specifically how the housing market will shape after rental prices have gone down.

Reventure Consulting CEO Nick Gerli posted a series of threads on Twitter stating “The Airbnb collapse is real,” along with data from short-term rental tracking site AllTheRooms to review revenue-per-listing for Airbnb properties in 15 U.S. cities.

“Revenues are down nearly 50% in cities like Phoenix and Austin. Watch out for a wave of forced selling from Airbnb owners later this year in the areas hit hardest by the revenue collapse.” he tweeted.

A number of cities mentioned in the tread post including how San Antonio, Nashville, Denver, New Orleans, Seattle and Orlando saw revenues decrease at least 34.8% from May 2022 to May 2023, according to Gerli.

The implication from Geril, other than Airbnb’s so-called “collapse” is the cities mentioned will see an increase in houses going on the market due to forced selling.

Folks who bought homes to become short-term landlords may be forced to get rid of those properties, which could drive home prices down or attempt to convert to long-term rentals, which would put pressure on rents.

Airbnb has since denied the results of Geril’s research.

“The data is not consistent with our own data,” Airbnb spokesperson Sam Randall said. “As we said during our first-quarter earnings, more guests are traveling on Airbnb than ever before, with nights and experiences booked growing 19% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to a year ago.”

Homebuyers will have to continue waiting to see if these homes will go on sale, however, it might take some time, if not more.

Posted July 11, 2023.