In 2015 Airbnb became worth over 25bn USD and Australia is a big contributor to that growth. Last year Australian listings on Airbnb doubled in the twelve months from July 2014 to June 2015 and Sydney ranked in Airbnb’s top 10 cities in the world with 15,000 listings by December 2015.

In this blog we look at the growth in Sydney, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, and what the economic impact is, as reported by Airbnb themselves.

The Sydney Morning Herald article, aptly named How Airbnb is taking over Sydney, one beach at a time provides a great breakdown and overview of just how popular Airbnb is and how quickly it has grown over the past few years.

You can see the article for full details and images but we’ve pulled out a few highlights below.

How popular is Airbnb in Sydney?

• These images highlight the huge growth in hosts joining Airbnb from November 2011 to November 2015.

• The Eastern Suburbs dominate when it comes to “listings per 1000 private dwellings”.

• The beaches dominate in general: “Eight of the 10 areas in Sydney with the largest share of listings per private dwelling are by the beach.”
• But it’s not all about the beaches and “away from the sand and surf, the most popular areas are Darlinghurst and Surry Hills, where about one in 15 homes are listed on Airbnb, and Darlington, with one in 16 homes on the home-letting site.”
• However, when it comes to listings Bondi Beach rules with “nearly 1000 lodgings advertised in December – 70 per cent more than its closest rival, Surry Hills.”
• City-wide, the median price to book an entire home is $190 a night and only Vaucluse, South Coogee and Tamarama of the Eastern Suburbs make it into the top 10 suburbs on median price.

•  "Sydney ranks as one of Airbnb's top 10 global cities in terms of listings," and "Melbourne and Sydney folks are some of the biggest users of the platform, coming in at sixth and seventh on the list."

What’s the economic impact of this growth?

So, with all the talk about the popularity and growth of Airbnb what does the economic impact look like?

To get an insight we can look at the following Airbnb commissioned report. The full report provides a review of the economic impact on a number of the global cities it operates in and below we’ve extracted the Sydney highlights.

• Airbnb guests and hosts supported AUD $214 million in economic activity in one year in Sydney.
• 63 percent of Airbnb guests say that Airbnb makes them more likely to return to Sydney.
• 75 percent of Airbnb guests visit Sydney from another country. The average age of Airbnb guests is 42 and 77 percent have at least a college degree.
• Airbnb hosts help their guests discover less-visited locales — 98 percent of hosts suggest local restaurants, cafes, bars and shops in their neighborhoods to their guests.
• 85 percent of Airbnb hosts rent out the home they live in and the typical host earns $4,505 per year by renting 37 nights per year.
• Airbnb guests spend AUD $1,822 over the course of their trip compared to average tourists who spend AUD $1,071.
• Airbnb is complementary to the existing tourism industry in Sydney – 80 percent of Airbnb listings in Sydney are outside of the main tourist areas and the average Airbnb guest spends AUD $1,042 in the neighborhood where she stays. For example, Airbnb guests spent an estimated AUD $142,422 in Randwick.
• By sharing their homes with over 30,000 Airbnb guests in 2012-2013, Sydney hosts are helping to support the local economy, and creating special memories for travelers from around the world.

Wondering how much of the pie you might be able to make? Take a look at our blog “How much money can your property make you?” to see how much you might be able to benefit from the popularity of Airbnb in Sydney.

If it all looks a bit complex or time consuming, no problem, that’s why we’re here to help.