China’s Accommodation Sharing Market Grew by Over 70% in 2017

560

New data points to explosive growth in the phenomena of accommodation sharing in China’s major urban centres.

The “China Accommodation Sharing Development Report 2018” (中国共享住宿发展报告2018) released on 15 May by the Sharing Economy Research Center of the State Information Center indicates that in 2017 the accommodation sharing market saw approximately 14.5 billion yuan in transactions, for year-on-year growth of 70.6%.

There are approximately 78 million participants in China’s accommodation sharing market, of which around 76 million are lodgers.

The report also indicates that in 2017 there were approximately 3 million accommodation sharing units in China involving a financing amount of approximately USD$540 million, for YoY growth of around 180%.

Key platforms for accommodation in China include Airbnb, Xiaozhu and Tujia.

The  primary demographic for China’s accommodation sharing market is millenials,with over 70% of lodgers aged between 18 to 30.

When it comes to landlords the average age is 33, while around 70% have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 60% are women.

First-tier cities are the main markets for accommodation sharing, alongside some key second and third-tier cities including Chengdu, Chongqing and Xi’an.

The top ten Chinese cities for accommodation sharing account for 48.9% of landlords and 47.6% of accommodation supply .

The report points out that the rapid growth of the accommodation sharing market is helping to expand channels for employment and entrepreneurship as well as increase incomes.

in 2017 there were approximately 2 million people providing a variety of services to accommodation sharing platforms, including landlords, property managers and photographers, while each new landlord can result in the addition of two new part-time employment positions.

The average annual income of full-time landlords is approximately 220,000 yuan.

The report expects the accommodation sharing market to hit 50 billion yuan by 2020, with the number of accommodation sharing units rising to over 6 million, and the number of lodgers exceeding 100 million.

Chen Chi (陈驰), CEO of Xiaozhu, said to Xinhua that while rapid industrialisation has brought immense material wealth, it’s also served to increase the distance between people, which means that trust issues have served as “lock” on the idle resources that provide a material foundation for the growth of China’s sharing economy.

According to Chen the ceiling on the accommodation sharing market was still far off, and safeguarding the experiences of consumers and reducing thresholds for entry would be involve long-term work, while the role of shared economy platforms would be to reconcile “yin and yang.”