In light of the advent of Airbnb, rent gap theory can be helpful for understanding how tourist rentals affect residential rental housing. It is argued that on those properties currently rented to residents, rental payments are not only ‘actual ground rent’, but also ‘potential ground rent’. The shift from a residential to a touristic use of rental housing thereby creates a potential ground rent. Taking as a case study the Palma Old Quarter in Mallorca, Spain, this paper analyses the evolution of the stock, prices, and revenues of residential rentals vis-à-vis tourist rentals and finds that, because it is more profitable to rent to tourists than to residents, the number of houses listed on Airbnb has increased, housing affordability for residents has shrunk, and the threat of displacement has increased.
Airbnb (2016) Holiday rentals in Palma Old Quarter. Available at: http://www.airbnb.com (accessed 14 November 2016).
2.
Airdna (2017) Market overview Palma. Available at: https://airdna.co/ (accessed 6 September 2017).
3.
Arias SansAQuaglieri DomínguezA (2016) Unravelling Airbnb. Urban perspectives from Barcelona. In: RussoAPRichardsG (eds) Reinventing the Local in Tourism. Clevedon: Channel View, pp. 209–228.
4.
BadcockB (1989) An Australian view of the rent gap hypothesis. Annals of the Association of American Geographers79(1): 125–145.
5.
BarcelóB (2000) Història del turisme a Mallorca (History of tourism in Mallorca). Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Geografia50(25): 31–55.
6.
BourassaSC (1990) On ‘An Australian view of the rent gap hypothesis’ by Badcock. Annals of the Association of American Geographers80(3): 458–461.
7.
BourassaSC (1993) The rent gap debunked. Urban Studies30(10): 1731–1744.
8.
ClarkE (1987) The Rent Gap and Urban Change. Case Studies in Malmö 1860–1985. Lund: Lund University Press.
9.
ClarkE (1992) On the gaps in gentrification theory. Housing Studies7(1): 16–26.
10.
ClarkE (1995) The rent gap re-examined. Urban Studies32(9): 1489–1503.
Cuadrado-CiuranetaSDurà-GuimeràASalvatiL (2017) Not only tourism: Unravelling suburbanization, second-home expansion and ‘rural’ sprawl in Catalonia, Spain. Urban Geography38(1): 66–89.
13.
Fotocasa (2016) Palma Old Quarter rental list. Available at: http://www.fotocasa.es (accessed 1 November 2016).
14.
FranquesaJ (2007) Vaciar y Ilenar, o la lógica espacial de la neoliberalización. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (REIS)118(1): 123–150.
15.
GothamKF (2005) Tourism gentrification: The case of new Orleans’ vieux carre (French Quarter). Urban Studies42(7): 1099–1121.
16.
Govern de les Illes Balears (2016) Pla de Intervenció en Àmbits Turístics. Unpublished planning draft, Govern de les Illes Balears.
HammelD (1999) Gentrification and land rent: A historical view of the rent gap in Minneapolis. Urban Geography20(2): 116–145.
19.
HamnettCRandolphW (1984) The role of landlord disinvestment in housing market transformation: An analysis of the flat break-up market in central London. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers9: 259–279.
20.
Idealista (2016) Palma Old Quarter rental list. Available at: http://www.idealista.com (accessed 1 November 2016).
INE (2016e) Components of total labour cost. Labour cost per worker by period, Autonomous community, activity sector. Available at: http://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Tabla.htm?t=6061&L=1 (accessed 11 November 2016).
LeesLSlaterTWylyE (2008) Gentrification. New York and London: Routledge.
28.
MazónTLagunaEDHurtadoJA (2016) Mortgaged tourists: The case of the south coast of Alicante (Spain). In: RocaZ (ed.) Second Home Tourism in Europe: Lifestyle Issues and Policy Responses. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 33–53.
29.
MermetAC (2018) Airbnb on tourism gentrification. Critical insights from the exploratory analysis of the Airbnb syndrome in Reykjavík. In: Gravari-BarbasMGuinandS (eds) Tourism and Gentrification in Contemporary Metropolises. International Perspectives. London and New York: Routledge., pp. 52–74.
30.
MorellM (2009) Fent barri: Heritage tourism policy and neighbourhood scaling in Ciutat de Mallorca. Etnográfica. Revista do Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia13(2): 343–372.
31.
PorterM (2012) The rent gap at the metropolitan scale: New York City’s land value valleys, 1990–2006. Urban Geography31(3): 385–405.
32.
SmithN (1979) Toward a theory of gentrification: A back to the city movement by capital not people. Journal of the American Planning Association45: 535–548.
33.
Vives-MiróS (2011) Producing a ‘successful city’: Neoliberal urbanism and gentrification in the tourist city – The case of Palma (Majorca). Urban Studies Research, vol. 2011, Article ID 989676, 13 pages, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/989676.
34.
WachswuthDWeislerA (2018) Airbnb and the rent gap: Gentrification through the sharing economy. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 50(6): 1147–1170.
35.
YrigoyI (2017) Airbnb en Menorca: ¿Una nueva forma de gentrificación turística? Localización de la vivienda turística, agentes e impactos sobre el alquiler residencial (Airbnb in Menorca: A new form of touristic gentrification? Distribution of touristic housing dwelling, agents and impacts on the residential rent). Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales21 (580). Available at: http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/ScriptaNova/issue/view/1436/showToc (accessed 24 September 2018).
36.
YungC-FKingR (1998) Some tests for the rent gap theory. Environment and Planning A30(3): 523–542.
