Research appears to show a link between the number of properties listed as Airbnb rentals and police-reported robberies and violent crimes.

The research, by the University of Cambridge, looked at crime statistics and advertising on short let platform Airbnb across London neighbourhoods between 2015 and 2018.

“We tested for the most plausible alternative explanations, from changes in police patrols to tourist hotspots and even football matches” says Dr Charles Lanfear from Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology, co-author of the study.

“Nothing changed the core finding that Airbnb rentals are related to higher crime rates in London neighbourhoods. While Airbnb offers benefits to tourists and hosts in terms of ease and financial reward, there may be social consequences to turning large swathes of city neighbourhoods into hotels with little regulation” Lanfear adds.

London is one of the most popular Airbnb markets in the world. An estimated 4.5m guests stayed in a London Airbnb during the period covered by the study.

Lanfear and his University of Pennsylvania co-author Professor David Kirk used masses of data from AirDNA, a site that scrapes Airbnb to provide figures, trends and approximate geolocations for the short-term letting market.

They mapped AirDNA data from 13 calendar quarters (January 2015 to March 2018) onto local areas each containing around two thousand residents. 

They matched these against crime statistics from the UK Home Office and Greater London Authority for six categories – robbery, burglary, theft, anti-social behaviour, any violence, and bodily harm.

The researchers analysed all forms of Airbnb lets, but found the link between active Airbnbs and crime is primarily down to entire properties for rent, rather than spare or shared rooms.

The association between active Airbnb rentals and crime was most significant for robbery and burglary, followed by theft and any violence. No link was found for anti-social behaviour and bodily harm.

On average across London, an additional Airbnb property was associated with a 2% increase in the robbery rate. This association was 1% for thefts, 0.9% for burglaries, and 0.5% for violence.

“While the potential criminogenic effect for each Airbnb rental is small, the accumulative effect of dozens in a neighbourhood, or tens of thousands across the city, is potentially huge” Lanfear claims.

“A single Airbnb rental can create different types of criminal opportunity. An Airbnb rental can provide an easy potential victim such as a tourist unfamiliar with the area, or a property that is regularly vacant and so easier to burgle. A very temporary occupant may be more likely to cause criminal damage. Offenders may learn to return to areas with more Airbnbs to find unguarded targets” he comments. 

Airbnb has taken steps to prevent crime, including some background checks as well as requirements for extended bookings on occasions popular for one-night parties, such as New Year’s Eve. “The fact that we still find an increase in crime despite Airbnb’s efforts to curtail it reveals the severity of the predicament,” says co-author Kirk.