Revealed: 14 times more short-term lets on Airbnb than rental homes available on Daft.ie

Tue, 08 Aug, 2023 - 02:03

Tadgh McNally, Political Reporter

There are significantly more short-term lets available across the country than there are long-term rentals, with more than 18,000 properties available to lease on Airbnb.

Analysis carried out by the Irish Examiner shows that there are a total of 18,086 Airbnb rentals nationwide, compared to just 1,299 rental properties available on Daft.ie. That is 14 times more short-term lets compared to long-term rentals.

The high proportion of Airbnbs compared to rental properties is particularly high in counties that are known to attract tourism, particularly Donegal, Clare, Kerry and Cork county.

In particular, there were just 31 properties available to rent on Daft across Donegal. This compares to the 1,796 Airbnbs in the county. In Clare, there were just 17 rental properties available on Daft, however there were 1,044 properties available on Airbnb.

In Cork city, the ratio of rental properties to short-term lets is smaller, with 40 properties available to rent compared to 181 Airbnbs. However, outside the city there are over 1,418 Airbnbs available to let compared to just 34 rental properties on Daft.

One eighth of all Airbnbs in Ireland are located in Kerry, where there are 82 times more short-term lets than long-term rental properties. In total, there are 2,056 properties on Airbnb, with just 25 houses available to rent on Daft.

All these figures exclude Airbnb properties that are single rooms in currently occupied houses.

Legislation

The Government is currently seeking to further regulate the short-term let sector, with legislation agreed by Cabinet in late 2022. Currently, people seeking to let out their property require planning permission if they wish to rent it for more than 90 days a year.

This legislation would establish a short-term tourist letting register that would require any homeowner renting their house for more than 21 days to register with Fáilte Ireland.

It would also grant Fáilte Ireland the ability to levy fines against households for listing properties without valid registration numbers, with maximum fines of up to €2,000.

The Government had estimated that the new rules would bring back an additional 12,000 properties onto the rental market. However, the European Commission ruled that it was too strict and placed a standstill on enacting the legislation until December 22, 2023.

Due to the standstill, the Department of Tourism is currently liaising with the European Commission over the legislation. It is expected that the new regulations will be brought into force in 2024.

However, Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin has called for “punitive measures” to be brought against the short-term let platforms in particular, saying that they should not be able to host homeowners without valid short-term let planning permission.

“I don’t think we should let the platforms off the hook,” Mr Ó Broin said. “The idea that platforms are profiting off properties without planning permission is unacceptable.”

He said that daily spot fines for platforms, like Airbnb, valued above the level a homeowner rents out their property would help tackle the issue.

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In a statement, a spokesperson for Airbnb said that hosts are encouraged to check existing rules before they rent out their property. “We remind hosts, wherever they are, to check and follow the rules before they list their space and throughout the year.

“The majority of hosts on Airbnb in Ireland are everyday families who share their primary home and rent their space for just three nights a month on average.”

Airbnbs v rental properties

Airbnbs nationwide: 18,086 Rental properties nationwide: 1,299

Carlow Airbnbs: 117 Carlow rentals: 12

Cavan Airbnbs: 133 Cavan rentals: 15

Clare Airbnbs: 1,044 Clare rentals: 17

Cork city Airbnbs: 181 Cork city rentals: 40

Cork county Airbnbs: 1,418 Cork county rentals: 34

Donegal Airbnbs: 1,796 Donegal rentals: 31

Dublin Airbnb’s: 4,611 Dublin rentals: 726

Galway Airbnb’s: 1,664 Galway rentals: 70

Kerry Airbnbs: 2,056 Kerry rentals: 25

Kildare Airbnbs: 160 Kildare rentals: 53