AirDNA: 2022 Trending Toward Record Year for Greek Short-term Rentals

Crete. Photo source: Visit Greece

Short-term rental demand currently pacing up over 100% across Greece

Greece is set for record breaking highs in the short-term rental market this summer with demand increasing across the country’s regions, according to data presented recently by AirDNA, an analytics platform that provides insights on the performance of vacation rental properties worldwide.

“Greece is currently the ‘hottest’ in Europe… 2022 is trending toward a record year for Greek short-term rentals,” said AirDNA’s international sales manager, Martha Wilson, speaking at the 4th BnB Guest Conference in Athens.

According to data shown at the conference, the demand for Airbnb-type accommodation in Greece for June-September 2022, compared with the same four months last year, shows an increase of 306 percent for Crete and 302 percent for the Dodecanese islands. Athens, the Cyclades islands and the Ionian islands follow with demand for short-term rentals up by 248 percent, 233 percent and 230 percent respectively.

Martha Wilson, international sales manager for AirDNA.

Strong demand is also recorded for Thrace, the Sporades islands, the North Eastern Aegean islands, Epirus, Thessaly, Peloponnese, Macedonia (Northern Greece) and Central Greece.

Overall, according to the data, as of March 1 bookings in Greece have been recorded up by 232 percent, putting the country in the lead in short-term rental accommodation demand in Europe.

“Guests are booking and they are booking now,” Wilson said, adding that every region is noting an increase in demand of over 100 percent compared to 2021 numbers.

Wilson highlighted that the positive trend for Europe’s market began to show from the first two months of 2022.

“Europe hit a post-pandemic high of 21 percent in demand above 2019 levels and that’s really a signal that Europe is in fact back on track,” she said.

With regard to Greece, Wilson said that the country stayed in line with Europe for the majority of the pandemic until October 2021.

“In October 2021 and on Greece has actually outpaced Europe… This year in January and February Europe finally hit positive trends but Greece weighed out before that”, she said.

According to Airdna data, during the October 2021-February 2022 five-month period, demand increased at European level by 2.6 percent, with demand for Greece up at 11.7 percent, compared to the October 2018-February 2019 period.

Revenue

Wilson added that total revenue in Greece last year recovered to 94.4 percent of 2019 levels, pulling in 1.3 billion euros.

“If the increasing trend in demand is to continue in 2022 then we are likely to see revenue exceeding 2019 numbers,” she said.

Greece’s short-term rental market in 2019 saw revenue at 1.4 billion euros and in 2020 the number dropped to 790 million euros due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on travel.

“Overall in 2022 Greece is back for a fantastic summer,” Wilson said.

Moreover, during her presentation, Wilson said Greek tourism’s seasonality is apparent in the short-term rental market as two thirds of demand is recorded during the June-September period.

“Peak summer demand is key for Greece’s recovery,” she said.