LONDON: Dubai and Tel Aviv are now among the five most expensive cities to rent an Airbnb property, according to the latest Bloomberg index released on Tuesday.
According to the list, Miami and Boston take the top two spots for average daily cost of lodging in private dwellings — the second year in a row for those cities.
Renting an apartment through the private dwelling app in those cities will set travelers back $205 and $195 respectively.
The Middle East, however, has been climbing in the annual index due to a combination of high hotel and apartment costs and growing tourism sectors, and this year has five cities among the top 20 priciest global cities: Tel Aviv and Dubai come in at 4th and 5th, while Jerusalem (9th), Riyadh (11th) and Kuwait City (15th) also feature.
Dubai’s short-term rental offerings cost an average of $185 a night, and the city’s supply of Airbnb units more than doubled to 3,249 units in the two years ended August 2017.
It follows a relaxing of government regulations, according to research on Dubai’s short-term rental market carried out by Ivana Gazivoda Vucinic of the international real estate firm Chestertons.
Several cities, including New York, have imposed restrictions on the short-term rental market citing rising housing costs as a reason. drives up housing costs.
Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas refutes the claim: “It’s no surprise to see the hotel industry paying for misleading reports about our community,” Papas told Bloomberg. “The data shows that these claims simply don’t hold water.”
* Full Bloomberg article here.
