The spatial distribution of short-term rental listings in Greece: a regional graphic

Abstract

The home-sharing economy is growing on a global scale, enabling homeowners to short-term lease through online platforms such as Airbnb. These practices bear both positive and negative externalities at both regional and national levels. Positive externalities include job creation, rises in income and in the dwelling supply for touristic purposes, as well as increase in tax revenues. Negative externalities involve disruptions to local communities by raising rental prices and crowding-out long-term tenants, implying income redistribution from homeowners to renters, and the overall ‘touristification’ of traditional neighbourhoods [Gurran, N. (2018). Global home-sharing, local communities and the Airbnb debate: A planning research agenda. Planning Theory & Practice Planning Theory & Practice, 19(2), 298–304]. The regional graphic in this paper illustrates the fact that short-term listings in Greece are unevenly distributed, mainly concentrated in touristic regions and the capital city, but not in continental areas.