The seven cities where property earns more on Airbnb: As demand from overseas tourists plummets, landlords weigh long-term tenants versus short-term lets
- Cardiff is the most profitable city for Airbnb, while Cambridge is the least
- In London, annual income from long-term renting is higher than through Airbnb
- Homeowners in Belfast and Manchester stand to make around 38% more on Airbnb than renting out to tenants
Landlords in seven UK cities including Manchester and Edinburgh could make more money listing their spare room on Airbnb one night per week, than if they rented it out full-time, research suggests.
But renting out a room on a permanent basis in all the other 14 top UK cities surveyed, including London, Cambridge and Oxford can be more financially rewarding than putting it on Airbnb.
The findings come as concerns grow about the effect of Airbnb on local housing markets, with the spread of short-term lets in some areas considered responsible for a shortage of homes for first-timer buyers or rental tenants.
A room in Cardiff city centre (pictured) can make you £6,344 a year through Airbnb
However, the pandemic has reduced drastically the number of holidaymakers visiting the UK and needing a place to stay. Homeowners who manage to attract travellers can still make some money by renting out their spare room.
Cardiff came out as the most profitable city for those wishing to rent out their spare room through Airbnb, with homeowners earning 86 per cent more via Airbnb than traditional renting, according to research by Vanquis Bank.
The average monthly rent for a room in the centre of Cardiff is £284, but the average price for just one night stay on Airbnb in Cardiff stands at £122 per night, according to Vanquis’ analysis of data from flatshare website Spareroom and Airbnb.
That means a landlord stands to make £6,344 a year by renting out the room one night a week instead of £3,408 a year from renting their room to a tenant full-time.
London’s Airbnb average price is lower than Cardiff’s at £117 per night , while monthly rents in the capital are much more expensive at £677, with annual income from normal renting at £8,126 compared to £6,084 through Airbnb.
Short-term lets for entire homes in London have been capped at a total of 90 nights per year to help protect the capital’s housing for long-term residents, although research suggests many landlords have broken the rule.
Cardiff came out as the most profitable city for those wishing to rent out their spare room through Airbnb, while Cambridge the least (Source: Vanquis)
Meanwhile, Cambridge is the least profitable city for Airbnb, research suggests.
Homeowners could expect to earn just £3,744 per year on Airbnb, 35 per cent less than the average rental income of £5,772.
But homeowners in Belfast and Manchester stand to make around 38 per cent more on Airbnb than renting out to tenants, while those in Bath and Edinburgh some 30 per cent more, and those in Brighton and Newcastle 12 and 7 per cent respectively.
The average price for monthly rent does not include any additional bills, while the Airbnb average figures refer to the average cost for a mid-week, one-night stay in a private room in a city centre property, Vanquis said.
Airbnb hosts slash prices on month-long stays to tempt remote workers
Hosts on Airbnb are offering discounts on month-long stays to entice those keen to embrace remote working and ‘work from anywhere’, the short-term lets portal said.
Algarve, Sicily, Tenerife and Lisbon are among the top top European destinations searched for by Brits last month, according to Airbnb.
A city apartment in Lisbon is being rented out for a 76 per cent monthly discount, while some converted stables in East Sussex with a 53 per cent discount.
Working from everywhere: Half of Britons are considering it, according to Airbnb
It comes as research suggests that over half of UK office workers are thinking about living elsewhere during or post-lockdown, Airbnb said.
Some 65 per cent of amenity searches on the platform were for homes with WiFi in September, while searches for homes with WiFi increased by 10 per cent compared to September last year.