Despite ongoing attempts to curb the spread of Airbnb in Swiss cities, new data from AirDNA suggests that the boom in holiday rentals is continuing unabated. Airbnb has been accused of exacerbating the ongoing housing shortage in Switzerland, and contributing to overtourism.

Airbnb in Switzerland continues meteoric rise

According to the data, the number of Airbnbs listed in Switzerland has increased by 34 percent since 2019, a phenomenon that has accelerated since the end of the COVID pandemic. Today, the holiday rental company offers 8 million homes and apartments in 100.000 cities worldwide, a number which is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years.

While providing a useful service for those on holiday, Airbnb has been blamed for taking properties away from people who would live and rent homes in Switzerland full-time. Indeed, a 2023 study published in the Journal of Housing Economics found that home-sharing apps like Airbnb “have significantly contributed to a rise in rents and housing prices in European cities.”

Airbnb exacerbating high rents and housing shortages in Switzerland

The rise in holiday lets is having a profound impact on the ongoing housing crisis in Switzerland. In September 2024, the Federal Statistical Office wrote that the number of available homes to rent had fallen to a record low, with major tourist hubs like Zurich and Geneva seeing the most severe shortages.

Adding insult to injury, AirDNA found that Swiss Airbnbs are often left empty for weeks. In Basel for example, the average occupancy rate of Airbnb homes is less than 50 percent.

Swiss restrictions on Airbnb having little effect

However, AirDNA noted that while many cities in Switzerland have imposed new rules and regulations on holiday and short-term rentals, very few policies have had an effect. Most local governments have imposed so-called 90-day rules, where homes may only be offered as Airbnbs for 90 days a year.

Geneva has imposed this rule since 2018. However, the data shows that while it did initially lead to a 20 percent drop in Airbnbs, the number of listings in the city has been rising steadily since the end of 2022. Despite imposing the same rule in 2022, the number of Airbnbs in Lugano has shot up 80 percent since 2019.

Similar phenomena were reported in Zurich, Interlaken and Bern. The one exception was Lucerne; after imposing its 90-day rule in 2023, the number of listings has dropped by 7 percent compared to 2019 levels, but has started to rise again recently.

Most Swiss landlords ignore Airbnb restrictions

Speaking to the Tages-Anzeiger, tourism expert at the University of Applied Sciences in Western Switzerland Roland Schegg said: “The 90-day rule has little effect on the number of offers on platforms for short-term rentals such as Airbnb…[they] often only act as a brake on growth, but not as a real limitation." He argued that most landlords circumvent the rules by listing themselves on several platforms.

Stephan Kirchner from the Brandenburg University of Technology went further, explaining that according to his research, restrictions only lead to more Airbnbs. The addition of clear rules around the practice creates legal certainty, "and thus enables investments," he told the Tages-Anzieger. As a result, what was once a way for tenants to sublet their homes to holidaymakers has become a lucrative industry for landlords and associations.

Both agree that the only way to control the industry is by enforcing the rules more harshly. However, Interlaken municipal president Philippe Ritschard argued that it is financially difficult for Swiss ski resorts and tourist hotspots to regulate the industry effectively, telling the Tages-Anzeiger that “controls are a Sisyphean task.”

Unfair to blame Airbnb for housing shortage, company argues

In response to the findings, Airbnb Switzerland told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung that "home sharing does not essentially take away living space" from residents. While they conceded that overtourism is a fact of life in Switzerland, nine out of 10 stays are still booked through hotels. Therefore, “blaming” Airbnb for the crisis was unfair.

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