Airbnb to Expand into Real Estate Market with New Prototype Homes

Samara “Backyard” models. Source: Samara

Home-sharing platform Airbnb announced last week that it would begin testing prototype homes as soon as next year as part of its newly launched Backyard project.

An initiative of Airbnb’s design studio, Samara, the project involves identifying alternative ways that homes can be designed and built to accommodate shared living arrangements, while being sustainable and adaptable.

The move is expected to boost Airbnb’s home-rental marketplace, with the addition of real estate development to its set of activities.

Joe Gebbia, Airbnb co-founder. Source: Samara

“Airbnb challenged conventional thinking and pioneered an entirely new industry,” explains Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia. “We helped people activate underutilized space – from a spare bedroom or treehouse to your apartment while you’re away – and built a community that connected people around the world. With Backyard, we’re using the same lens through which Airbnb was envisioned – the potential of space – and applying it more broadly to architecture and construction.”

Gebbia says the scheme is a “tall order” but added that the company would be ready to begin testing prototype homes in 2019. The idea is to “rethink the home”, he said of the project adding that according to UN projections global construction is set to increase at an unprecedented rate over the next 40 years.

With over 5 million rental listings on its platform in 200 countries, Airbnb comes after WeWork, which also to expanded into residential real estate and the shared living space market in 2016. In the meantime, the home-sharing company has faced a great deal of opposition with many city authorities imposing strict restrictions.