The world's most successful Airbnb landlord made £11.9 million in a single year, renting out 881
By Laura Maia
London is not only one of the top markets for Airbnb, but also hosts the platform's most prolific landlord, according to research conducted by AirDNA. The company that analyses solely Airbnb data highlighted that this one landlord made £11.9 million over the past 12 months, renting out 881 properties in the city. The identity of the host was not revealed.
The report, first published in The Telegraph, shows the top-earning hosts in the largests global markets for Airbnb (see the chart below). The second place in the ranking goes to a host in Bali, who earned £11.8 million through 504 properties. According to AirDNA, these figures confirm that Airbnb is no longer just a platform where individuals can rent out their places on their own, but also a tool used by traditional property management companies.
A recent Airbnb official report shows that there are 64,000 places listed in London. The average host in London earns around £3,000 a year, through renting out their place for 40 nights. According to the platform, 55% of the hosts in the UK choose to share their entire home (not necessary their primary residence), while 44% share their home with their guests by renting one or two rooms. Just 1% of the hosts share their own room with the visitors.
Last year Airbnb faced accusations of exacerbating London’ housing scarcity by allowing landlords to turn badly needed housing into unofficial hotels. In response this year the platform banned hosts in London from renting out entire homes beyond 90 days without consent from council. Since the introduction of this limit, the proportion of entire home listing that are booked for 90 nights or more has fallen by two thirds according to Airbnb.
