Rent gap reloaded: Airbnb and the shift from residential to touristic rental housing in the Palma Old Quarter in Mallorca, Spain

Ismael Yrigoy

Urban Studies, 2019, vol. 56, issue 13, 2709-2726

Abstract: In light of the advent of Airbnb, rent gap theory can be helpful for understanding how tourist rentals affect residential rental housing. It is argued that on those properties currently rented to residents, rental payments are not only ‘actual ground rent’, but also ‘potential ground rent’. The shift from a residential to a touristic use of rental housing thereby creates a potential ground rent. Taking as a case study the Palma Old Quarter in Mallorca, Spain, this paper analyses the evolution of the stock, prices, and revenues of residential rentals vis-à -vis tourist rentals and finds that, because it is more profitable to rent to tourists than to residents, the number of houses listed on Airbnb has increased, housing affordability for residents has shrunk, and the threat of displacement has increased.

Keywords: Airbnb; Palma; potential ground rent; rent gap; rental housing; residential rental; tenure structure; touristic rental; 爱彼迎（Airbnb）; 帕尔马; 潜在地租; 租金差è·; 出租房屋; å±…ä½ ç§Ÿèµ; å±…ä½ ä¿ æœ‰ç»“æž„; æ—…æ¸¸ç§Ÿèµ (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098018803261 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:56:y:2019:i:13:p:2709-2726

DOI: 10.1177/0042098018803261

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().