Online accommodation platform, Airbnb, is generating more than €77 million every year in Belgium. This is in the main cities - Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Liège and Namur. This is reported on Friday in L'Echo and De Tijd. Almost half of this total has been initiated in Brussels where no less than 4,663 properties have been offered for a total turnover of 34 million per year. Figures for Liège are 1,184 properties for €12 million were put forward for Liège.
The market has seen a genuine ‘boom’ since last summer, except Brussels where the number of properties on offer lowered (by 5%) following the introduction of strict rules and checks. Both publications note this. Throughout the year, Liège has recorded an increase of 57% in the number of properties. Namur has “only” 587 properties generating a 6 million-euro turnover, but its increase over the last 12 months is 56%.
Moreover it emerges from the analysis that in the six cities, at least 10% of those renting are offering not one, but two or more properties, on the Airbnb platform. There is fierce competition with the hotel market: in Brussels there is one Airbnb room for six hotel rooms (in Amsterdam and Paris, the ratio is one for three), at a price which is, very often, more advantageous. Airbnb accommodation in Belgium tends particularly to be “dwellings”, such as an apartment or a house, rather than a basic bedroom.
The Brussels Times
