There are a staggering 23,564 active Airbnb listings in Cape Town, according to new data from Inside Airbnb.
The research noted that the City of Cape Town’s Airbnb industry is in fact hitting new highs and there are more listings in the mother city than international hotspots like San Francisco (7,888), Vienna (14,715) and Sydney (15,548).
Breakdown of Cape Town
Inside Airbnb also breaks down the data and shows that in Cape Town, 81.8% (19,280) of the listings are entire homes or apartments that are rented out on the Airbnb platform.
The data found that 17.2% (4,062) are private rooms that are being rented on Airbnb.
Inside Airbnb found that 0.3% (79) are shared rooms and 0.6% (143) are hotel rooms.
The research found the average price per night was R1,572.
When it comes to listings per host, the data showed that 63.6% (3,428) of Cape Town hosts have multiple listings. The research found that 36.4% (1,959) have single listings.
The ‘Airbnb’fication’ of Cape Town
Cape Town residents have been growing increasingly impatient with the lack of government regulations on Airbnb, and argue that they can no longer afford to live in the city.
The platform and its users are being accused of driving up the rental market, and as such, local residents are finding it more difficult to find an apartment, house or room to rent at an affordable rate.
Cape Town locals took to Reddit to air their grievances:
“I feel a vacancy tax would help Cape Town. Many cities across the world charge landlords fees for having their houses stand empty, it makes the city more affordable for locals. And ensures the land is actually used to its potential,” user @AnonomousWolf said.
“There were at least three hosts in the City of Cape Town area with listings ranging between over 120 and 130 listings and four hosts with listings ranging between 95-98. Damn bro people playing monopoly out here,” user @PimpNamedNikNaks said.
“If they were priced for locals, it would be awesome to be welcome so many of our fellow countrymen to our awesome city to come and enjoy it. But if you look at listing prices in Cape Town and pick cities in Europe/Aus/USA they're not that far off? Why - they're targeting foreigners. Locals are generally priced out,” user @dylmcc added.
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