Airbnb listings in Amsterdam up over 4 pct.; City to continue tough stance

The number of Airbnb listings in Amsterdam increased by only 4 percent last year, bringing a seeming end to the explosive growth in holiday house sharing listings in the Dutch capital. The number of ads on other house sharing platforms also hardly increased, if at all. Last year Amsterdam handed out a total of 4.2 million euros in fines for housing fraud, the vast majority of which was for illegal vacation rentals.

"Homes are for living in. The most important goal of our enforcement is to put an end to the illegal use of homes", housing alderman Laurens Ivens said in a press release on Wednesday. "Our approach is increasingly successful. In 2017 a total of 1,407 became available for living in again."

In December 2017, Airbnb counted 18,852 Amsterdam ads, compared to 18,042 in January 2017, according to Het Parool. Holiday rentals on house sharing sites are most common in the Amsterdam districts of West, and Centrum. There was a decrease in ads for accommodation in Zuid.

Amsterdam has a larger range of holiday rentals on house sharing sites than Barcelona, Berlin, Vienna, and Madrid, and only slightly less than Rome. Paris has the most listings in Europe, followed by London. The average price of an Airbnb rental is highest in Amsterdam at 140 euros per home. London comes in second place with 113 euros.

Last month Airbnb announced that 1.7 million people rented accommodation in the Netherlands through the site in 2017. Almost half of the rentals were in Amsterdam.

Just because the growth in Airbnb listings seems to be slowing down, doesn't mean that Amsterdam will slacken its tough approach to holiday rentals in the city. Early this year the municipality announced that it is reducing the maximum number of days a home can be rented out on house sharing sites from 60 to 30. This takes effect on January 1st, 2019. Amsterdam residents who rent out their home on sites like Airbnb are now also obliged to register their listings with the municipality, or risk a hefty fine.

“Airbnb is proud to help Amsterdammers share their homes responsibly and pay their fair share of tax. We are disappointed other platforms are failing to take similar steps to help make the city stronger. We encourage other platforms to step up and do the right thing so Amsterdammers can keep sharing the best of their communities and the city they love with the world,” Bernard D’heygere, an Airbnb representative said to NL Times.