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Market for Short-Term Lets Continues to Suffer in the Post-Pandemic Era
22 September 2020 – The Covid-19 pandemic hit the short-term tourist accommodations market harder than many other sectors, with occupancy down by approximately 90% at the height of the initial lockdown. Fears of further waves of the coronavirus are preventing a resurgence. As a consequence, property owners have taken nearly 3,000 properties off of the market, primarily redirecting them to the medium- to long-term rental market, in a move that will be welcomed by Portuguese policymakers.
In June of last year, Lisbon had 5,212 studios and 1-bedroom flats for rent on platforms like Airbnb, a figure which had fallen to 3,468 by the beginning of summer. The northern city of Porto saw a similar sea change, with nearly a third of the flats on offer removed from the market, according to Confidencial Imobiliário’s Residential Information System.
Many of those properties are migrating to the long-term rental market, and prices are already showing signs of weakness, particularly in areas outside of the main city centres. In the second quarter of this year, rents in Lisbon fell by 6.9%, while holding mostly steady in Porto. In Greater Porto, however, prices fell by 1.4%.
Original Story: Dinheiro Vivo – Sónia Santos Pereira
Translation/Summary: Richard D. Turner