Innovation in Wake of Market Crisis: Spanish Property Owners Evolve Business Models

To answer the call of abandoned vacation rental locations, hundreds of homes originally listed on sites like Airbnb, are being transferred to traditional rental properties in Madrid. 

Spanish property listing marketplace, Idealista, has seen its numbers of listings increase in the wake of property in other markets around the world suffering due to the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Owners of tourist apartments are using their accommodations to house displaced essential personnel as one way to combat the ever changing market. 

Spain's government has put in an order to suspend all business services that are not deemed essential during this time and real estate is just one of the markets to suffer such a fate. 

This isn't stopping real estate professionals from keeping their businesses floating. Notoriously, tourist rentals have been operating illegally since Mayor Manuela Carmena passed legislation that forced them to have a municipal license to operate. However, with a lack of strict control and stricter legislation on the part of the Community of Madrid, they are continuing to operate with little sanctions.

When it comes to pricing, no expert is willing to say what they are expecting to happen to the market while the virus rampages the globe. Rental prices have been tilting upwards in Spain, and according to analysis, the 'Airbnbization' of vacation rentals into traditional rentals is part of the problem. Where a demand is made, price will rise to meet it. 

The pattern is a clear one—Multifamily property owners have two markets to operate within: rental and tourism, with an emphasis on whichever one makes them more money.