  This paper explores Airbnb, a peer-to-peer platform for short-term rental of
housing accommodation, examining the geographical pattern of those
establishments using data from London. Our purpose is to analyse whether or not
the diversity of dwelling types correlate with the distribution of listings. We
use a measure of spread based on entropy to indicate the diversity of dwelling
types and look at its relationship with the distribution of Airbnb
establishments, as well as the type of home ownership using correlation
analysis. It is important to note that our study only considers domestic
building types, and excludes any information on the diversity of land uses. Two
important findings emerge from our analysis. Firstly, the spatial location of
Airbnb rentals is negatively correlated with the diversity of dwelling types,
and positively correlated with a single dwelling type, which corresponds in
general to purpose built flats, conversions and flats in commercial buildings.
Secondly, Airbnb is associated with areas that have a high proportion of
privately rented properties, detracting more than 1.4% of the housing supply
into short-term rentals. Such a phenomenon can reach up to 20% in some
neighbourhoods, further exacerbating the process of gentrification. Finally, we
discuss the implications of these findings as instruments to inform policies
associated with the 'sharing' economy in relation to the disruption of the
housing structure.
