Occupancy hits a June record in Europe as travel rebounds

 

AirDNA’s new monthly market review reveals that in the first half of 2022, 7.2% more nights were stayed in a European holiday rental than in the same period in 2019, showing a full recovery across the continent. Decreased supply struggling to come back from the pandemic pushed occupancy to record highs for the ninth consecutive month, reaching 58.2% in June 2022, while average prices begin to stabilise, up 4.8% from last June.

An Unbalanced Picture Across Countries
In June, Croatia led the way in the demand recovery, with 132% more nights booked than last year, followed by Norway (+117%), and Hungary (+97%). All of the top 20 countries saw gains from last year, though Finland (+25%), the UK (+29%), and the Netherlands (+34%) lag behind as guests begin to travel abroad instead.

However, only half of the top 20 countries are outperforming their 2019 performance, led by Greece (+27%), Germany (+26%), and France (+18%) in June. The Czech Republic (-39.4%), Hungary (-30.3%), and Ireland (-26.8%) remain at the bottom of the table from May.

With the euro down nearly 12% against the U.S. dollar since the start of the year and reaching parity for the first time in 20 years, there is some pressure on rates to push higher to combat thin margins for property managers. Average rates across Europe were up 4.8% in June from last year, but with quite diverse trends across countries: of the top 20, 13 saw growth, including Poland (+18%), Denmark (+14%), and the Czech Republic (+9%), but seven saw rates down from last year, including Finland (-17.6%), Austria (-13.1%) and Sweden (-7.8%).

Big Events Bring Visitors in Their Droves
Large-scale events and celebrations like Bastille Day in France are seeing record numbers of guests, with short-term rental stays for the 14th July weekend in France up 40% over 2019. The strongest gains were in Normandy (+78.1%), Hauts-de-France (+75.7%), and Centre-Val de Loire (+74.4%), while only the capital region of Ile-de-France is seeing bookings down from 2019, though over 100% higher than last year.

Similarly, the XXII Commonwealth Games are bringing huge numbers of visitors to Birmingham and the West Midlands, with over 21,000 nights already booked in Airbnbs for the games. This represents 373% more nights booked than for the same period in 2019.

Back to Normality
Looking forward, demand for the second half of 2022 is starting to normalise to 2019 levels. July and September bookings are up 10% and 8% respectively from 2019, though August is currently on track for a 3% decline. For Q3, rates are also stabilising to just 1% above last year.

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