Airbnb 2021 data shows decline in rentals in Paris but record increase across France

As the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on global tourism, some long-term trends are beginning to emerge. In France, the city of Paris has seen a sharp drop in the number of Airbnb rentals listed while the rest of the country has seen a steady increase over the past year.

For Airbnb, France is hot. Paris is not.

This trend can be seen in a recent Airdna report, a website that tracks rental service data. Overall, Airbnb has remained surprisingly robust around the world despite Covid. “From January to June 2020, Airbnb lost 5% of its total listings, but has since recovered and grown 2.5% from pre-pandemic levels,” the report notes.

But among these figures, there is a clear trend away from large cities towards more remote areas, in France and around the world. For the study, Airdna compiled data that compares the lists from February 2021 to February 2020.

Among the main national markets for Airbnb, France saw the biggest increase.

“The number of active units grew the most in France, where almost all regions of the country saw growth in active units, particularly around the Loire Valley and northern Brittany where smaller towns and resorts continued to attract customers,” the report said. .

However, active listings fell by 3.2% in Paris and overall listings fell by 23%. It wasn’t as bad as cities like Amsterdam, New York, Toronto and Beijing.

For Paris, this reflects a growing desire to escape the limits of the capital whenever there is a lockdown. It has also sparked growing interest in people moving longer term from Paris to other smaller towns and rural areas.

As such, Parisian real estate agents reported an increase in Airbnb rentals put on the market for sale. According to Le Figarothe operators of these Airbnbs are still faced with bank payments that have become unsustainable as the pandemic has kept international tourism closed.

“We have more and more salespeople on this case,” Frédéric Teboul, who heads several Guy Hoquet Aleph agencies in Paris, told Le Figator. “The bank agreed to freeze their credit for a few months, but they had to start paying back again and, without tourists, they can’t make it.”

In some cases, these operators have been use the Airbnb platform in violation of Paris rules, making their financial situation even more precarious. They cannot apply for financial assistance without acknowledging that they were operating an unapproved tenancy.