Rental crisis Calls to limit Airbnbs as numbers surge past 2,000 mark

THE number of homes in Bristol that have been ‘lost’ to Airbnb has risen above 2,000 for the first time.

- Tristan CORK

New figures from Airbnb scrutiny campaigners Inside Airbnb have revealed that the number of entire homes that are on the holiday home website has risen by 36 per cent in the past two years.

The continued rise will fuel calls for a crackdown on the growth of Airbnb, with housing crisis campaigners pointing at the local and citywide impacts of an increasing number of homes being rented out for a few days at a time, rather than to permanent residents through traditional long-term tenancies.

Inside Airbnb tracks the number and location of Airbnb listings registered on the website, and in Bristol it has continued to rise.

In June 2023, there were 1,494 listings on Airbnb that were ‘entire homes’ in Bristol. In June 2025, that had risen to 2,026 - an increase of 36 per cent. Previous figures up to the end of 2024 indicated that there were around 1,919 ‘entire homes’ available on Airbnb, which means that the number has risen by six per cent in just the past six months, and has now gone above 2,000 for the first time.

As far back as early 2022, the then mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, described the impact of Airbnb as a “wicked challenge’ complained that he had few, if any, powers to tackle it, and called on the Government to give local councils greater ability to regulate and manage the Airbnb issue in cities like Bristol.

Requiring a switch to Airbnb does not require planning permission, as it stands, and it also takes property owners and landlords out of the existing and growing regulation that does exist for landlords to be licenced and shared rented homes to meet legal requirements.