How the Airbnb boom is putting pressure on housing
Everyone knows that Google, Apple and Facebook are big, and that Uber and Netflix are fairly sizeable too.
But far fewer people are aware just how enormous Airbnb and its rivals have become not in the boulevards and piazzas of foreign cities, but right here, in the UK.
The scale of the growth is not only remarkable, but also largely untracked.
We are blind to the amount of short-term letting that goes on, said Ian Adams, cabinet member for Westminster Council, which estimates that as many as one in 15 housing units in the borough are being let as short-term rentals.
According to the last figures released by Airbnb, two million guests stayed at 64,000 London listings between 1 July 2016 and 1 July 2017, a growth of 49% on the previous year.
When you factor in riva...