Complement or competition? Airbnb-based tourism and local housing markets in four Norwegian cities

Abstract

Airbnb listings can stand in competition with traditional rental markets in dynamically growing local markets, which suggests a competitive, rather than complementary relationship between Airbnb listings and local housing markets. The present chapter explores how the Airbnb-housing-market relationship develops over time in urban contexts, considering Airbnb-based tourism and ownership-based and rental-based housing markets. We investigate the long-term spillover effects between these partial markets at local level with empirical data that cover the four largest Norwegian cities, Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, and Stavanger, all of which have a growing population, significant tourism activities, and a dynamic housing market. Our findings suggest no indication of a short-term spillover effect from Airbnb-based tourism on local housing markets, both those based upon ownership of housing space and rental markets in the cities for the period studied (with the exception of Trondheim). This points to a rather complementary relationship of Airbnb-based tourism and local housing markets in the context of these Norwegian cities. However, there might exist long-term effects between the traditional rental market and Airbnb accommodation in some of the cities, which could have positive or negative effects for local housing markets. Keywords: Airbnb-based tourism, local housing markets, competitive relationship, spillover effects, institutional factors.