Airbnb, Buy-to-Let Investment, Tourism, and Displacement in Lisbon

This research proposal investigates the effects of Airbnb, buy-to-let investments, and tourism-driven displacement in Lisbon. It analyzes how short-term rental platforms like Airbnb contribute to the financialization of housing and influence the local community. The study examines the context and purpose, literature review, methodology, findings, and interpretation. The research employs a deductive approach, utilizing interviews for data collection with a sample of 25 participants. The findings suggest that Airbnb fuels investment in the property market, leading to gentrification and displacement of residents. The study highlights the significance of understanding the interplay between Airbnb, buy-to-let investments, and tourism's impact on the housing market, providing insights for policymakers and businesses operating in similar fields. The research emphasizes the need for further investigation into the relationship between Airbnb-led investment and other investment strategies in tourism-driven locations. The case study reveals the socio-spatial repercussions of the expansion of short-term rentals, raising concerns about tourism and the right to the city, and offering a basis for shaping policy and understanding the challenges of a changing market.

Research Proposal

Contents
Title of the Study.............................................................................................................................1
Context and purpose of the Research...............................................................................................1
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................1
Evaluation of the Methodology.......................................................................................................3
Findings Of the Research.................................................................................................................4
Interpretation of the Findings...........................................................................................................4
Main Outcome.................................................................................................................................5
Significance of the Research............................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

Title of the Study
Airbnb, buy-to-let investment and tourism-driven displacement: A case study in Lisbon.
Context and purpose of the Research
The study aims to determine Airbnb, buy-to-let investment and tourism-driven
displacement, therefore, the short-term platform likewise Airbnd channel mainly invest in
residential real estate and the way in which the local community is influenced through the
proliferation of the apartments rented to the visitors. In between the year of 2015 to 2017 an
analysis has been executed fine grained fieldwork in the historical neighbourhood of Alfama and
recognised both the process and socio-spatial situation of short term rentals (Cocola-Gant and
Gago, 2019). The investigation did not reach at the outcome of sharing economy but it reaches at
the process of buy to let investment in that assorted players make profit through the rents and
displace residents with tourist. In this research analysis is based on Lisbon, which is a Portugal’s
hilly, coastal capital city, the study contain evaluation over two aspects first is based on the
suggestions that Airbnb acts as an instrument which mainly contributes to the financialization of
housing. As compared to the traditional rental market, short term rental offers an immense
number of offers that increase the market efficiency for the property owners, making them
developing attractive for both local and global investors. Another one is relay over the area that,
Airbnb provides path to a hyper flexible rental market which for tenants implies developing
insecurity and displacement concerns. The key purpose of the study is to effectively execute
analysis about the increasing short term rental facilities for the local as well as tourist for the
purpose of increasing the profitability of the business.
Literature Review
Airbnb and buy-to-let investment
Airbnb promises to be a component of the shared or collaborative economics, in which
online platforms facilitate the exchange of underutilized products and services, perhaps meaning
a more following the experiment of consumer. High numbers of household exist exclusively in
areas wherein economic growth is minimal, whereas in important tourist locations, STR
managing is becoming more professionalized (Ryan and Ma, 2020). Building owners are
increasingly renting out complete houses indefinitely via STR sites – implying that no one lives
in the property – and also some 'hosts' have duplicate entries and collections containing hundreds
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of units. This suggests that, beyond some kind of sharing, in places with strong tourism demand
Airbnb allows the development of new opportunities for professional actors to extract profits
from real estate. Despite signs of greater professionalism, consumers know virtually little about
the Airbnb landlords. According to the authors, because STRs offer fresh future income,
landlords should easily convert their units into long-term domestic tenancies to STRs. Airbnb
introduces a method for the financialization of property by providing an extra device for making
personal property development more versatile and profitable (Jokela and Minoia, 2020). Existing
research has shown that capital investment in private rental markets increased in the aftermath of
the great financial crisis. In light of this, people contend that Airbnb, and the resulting rise of the
STR economy, plays an important role in the development, specially even though they have
produced an open distributed and effective marketing strategy that increases the inclusion of
residential properties into global economic circuit design. When contrasted to the lengthy
housing stock, Airbnb provides many advantages and features that make the STR economy more
appealing to both local and remote investors. Customers contend that three essential
interconnected variables are in place: networks and digital technology, STR building owners, and
the economy's adaptability. The pressure of buy-to-let investors looking for properties, along
with the daily interruptions produced by tourists in such places, creates a situation wherein the
inhabitants find selling the property and getting out to be a tempting alternative. While the
decided to leave the household flat was personal, it underscores a social transformation in which
resident inhabitants are being replaced by transitory consumers.
Airbnb and tourism-driven displacement
This dynamic is aided by Airbnb-led investments, in which entrepreneurs substitute local
residents and seek larger returns by replacing long-term residents with visitors. Immediate
conditions are changing when tenants are replaced with short-term tourists. That is, residents are
forced to leave their home. Because landlords can quickly cancel relationships and rent their
units on platforms such as Airbnb if renters have unstable tenancy arrangements, multiple pricing
framework may impact this process (Gutiérrez and Domènech, 2020). As a result, the state plays
a crucial role in either accelerating or stalling the procedure. Airbnb's societal repercussions,
therefore, extend beyond the immediate dislocation of renters. It has been reported that residents
in tourist zones of cities such as Berlin, Amsterdam, and Barcelona are actively selling the
apartments.
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Evaluation of the Methodology
The processes or strategies used to find, select, analyse, and managing data from varied
sources are defined as a research technique. The achieve the research objectives to objectively
examine the effective methodology and dependability of an investigation (Domènech and Zoğal,
2020). In research, method is described as the systematic way of resolving a research topic by
acquiring data through various methodologies, offering an interpretation of the data acquired,
and making judgments about the study data.
Research Approach: While doing a research it is important that the researcher have the
ability to think beyond what is expected because having a broader assumption can help the
researcher in collecting data, analysing the same, and assist in making further interpretations.
Therefore, it is crucial that a proper approach is taken into consideration by the researcher on the
basis of the research problems on which the scholar is working. However, in context with this
researcher, the researcher will undertake the deductive approach. The main reason behind
choosing this approach is the ability of explaining the possibility of relationships between
concepts and variables. Moreover, deductive approach keen to provide better results but it has
one disadvantage as well. Deductive approach cannot be used if the researcher has a shorter
period of time for completing the research as this approach is time consuming.
Research Method: It is considered to be a procedure that helps in collecting data and
analysing the same. There are numerous types of research for getting the appropriate information
but in accordance to this research, interview will be taken into consideration (Serrano and et. Al.,
2021). Interview is said to be a one-on-one face to face interaction for getting the information
which the interviewer wants to get. Asking questions and taking a note of the interaction is the
prime function which is performed in this. The main advantage of this method is that the
interviewee can speak freely about what he/she is feeling about the relative enquiry. However, it
has disadvantages like, there can be a possibility that candidate rehearses the answers which can
further affect the decision.
Data Collection: Primary data are something that are original in terms of investigation a
problem. Here, the information gathered are collected for the first time, and most of the
researcher for exploring the reality of the question use this method. Therefore, same thing is
happening with this research. One of the advantages of this method is that researcher can have a
control over sampling, and the methods used of measuring it. However, talking about the
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disadvantage doing primary research needs training and if it is not so then it becomes more
expensive and time consuming.
Sampling: It is one of the important aspects because without having a proper sample
researcher cannot collect information on which the future of the research is dependent.
Moreover, for doing this research, probability sampling was particularly chosen because of
which every individual will get a chance of getting selected. However, the sample size for this
research will be 25 which is sufficient for coming into a conclusion.
Findings Of the Research
Our results suggest that hosts are investors, strategic business unit, and landlords, whereas
residents have been dispossessed and see the growth of STRs as a systemic inequality. An
additional concern in this regard is that STRs in Alfama are pushing the neighborhood's
gentrification. Alfama has transitioned from a state of desolation and decay to a new state of
physical improvement, rising housing costs, and social development in a very short period of
time. In this situation, gentrification is not fuelled by local labour reorganization or an increasing
urban elite, as it would be in the traditional first stages of gentrification. Airbnb is a key
component of the present 5th commercialization, which is being driven by the influx of
international real estate capital into specific neighbourhoods. Airbnb feeds investment into the
property market and, as such, must be seen as a significant component in the financial
deregulation of social accommodation (Sun, Zhang and Wang, 2021). In this situation, the state
is critical to exacerbating the situation by opening the local market to international capital.
Airbnb and professional building owners add a new inducement as investors take use of the STR
overall market adaptability to use housing prices as an asset to store surplus sales and power on
rents even without "barrier" of retaining a resident in the house.
Interpretation of the Findings
This will be the first article to attempt to relate Airbnb with residential financialization, thus
more comparison investigations are required. An essential topic to consider is how Airbnb-led
investment is linked to other investment strategies being implemented in tourism industry
locations. It appears that investors looking for residential properties’ prospects do so in
developing tourism attractions, maybe because of the concentration of property use in such areas
and the resulting hikes in real estate values. This type of investigation is critical since inhabitants
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in tourism areas frequently blame tourists as a competitor for homes. Airbnb is promoting the
neoliberal worldview, which in this case means increased tenancy insecurity. On the other hand,
the rapid expansion of tourism and investor demand encourages inhabitants to sell their homes
and relocate. Furthermore, the housing market focuses to visitors but instead of long-term
tenants, limiting housing options for inhabitants. This approach exacerbates Lisbon's current
housing problem and, in Alfama, resulting in a rapid impact on land use that is progressively
turning the area into a downtown area, comprising the replacement of a surrounding area by
transitory users.
Main Outcome
This case study discloses various aspects regarding this rising problem, presents new
concerns for additional research, and gives information to influence policymaking by
investigating the suppliers and socio-spatial repercussions of Airbnb in Alfama. In contrast to
Airbnb's assertions that hosts are "regular individuals" and that visitors use such rooms to "live
like a local,". Furthermore, the platform enables available housing markets visible on a
worldwide scale, implying that the internet and electronic platforms are innovations that
accelerate housing market worldwide. The socio-spatial ramifications of the expansion of STRs
raise significant concerns regarding tourism and the right to the city. In regard to this, researchers
discovered that those who were able to stay feel a sense of loss and frustration, as well as daily
disruptions that lower their quality of life.
Significance of the Research
The study into actual action is based on the aspect of Airbnb, buy-to-let investment and
tourism-driven displacement; therefore, it is a wide area of study, which has major significance
to develop knowledge about the area of increasing rental market in the residential area by Airbnb
to increasing profit and development. The study is effective for Airbnb and the businesses which
deal in similar field. The analysis of the study enhance idea about developing rental housing of
making investment in rental houses for gaining benefits and also providing facilities to the local
people and also attract tourist for living long term purposes. Another effective benefit of the
study is for the researcher to gain significant skills and knowledge in relation to the specific area
and gain suitable academic records. However, the study is also valuable in developing personal
as well as professional knowledge to seeking for career development within the similar field. The
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study provides benefits for the readers and the future researchers to execute detailed analysis
over the specified area. in addition to this, the study enhance idea about the benefits of short term
rental facilities for the people and the businesses as well to gain more progression and
development.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cocola-Gant, A. and Gago, A., 2019. Airbnb, buy-to-let investment and tourism-driven
displacement: A case study in Lisbon. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space,
p.0308518X19869012.
Ryan, C. and Ma, L., 2020. Social consequences of airbnb–a New Zealand case study of cause
and effect. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, pp.1-21.
Jokela, S. and Minoia, P., 2020. Nordic home-sharing utopia: a critical analysis of Airbnb in
Helsinki. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 20(3), pp.227-245.
Gutiérrez, A. and Domènech, A., 2020. Understanding the spatiality of short-term rentals in
Spain: Airbnb and the intensification of the commodification of housing. Geografisk Tidsskrift-
Danish Journal of Geography, 120(2), pp.98-113.
Domènech, A. and Zoğal, V., 2020. Geographical dimensions of airbnb in mountain areas: The
case of Andorra. Journal of Rural Studies, 79, pp.361-372.
Serrano, L., Ariza-Montes, A., Nader, M., Sianes, A. and Law, R., 2021. Exploring preferences
and sustainable attitudes of Airbnb green users in the review comments and ratings: A text
mining approach. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 29(7), pp.1134-1152.
Sun, S., Zhang, S. and Wang, X., 2021. Characteristics and influencing factors of Airbnb spatial
distribution in China’s rapid urbanization process: A case study of Nanjing. Plos one, 16(3),
p.e0248647.
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