Partnership Underway? Big Landlords Want Piece of the Airbnb Action
The US’ three biggest residential landlords are in talks with Airbnb to put their properties on its listings—for a piece of the action, of course.
Sam Zell's Equity Residential (108,000 units), AvalonBay Communities (83,000) and Camden Property Trust (59,000) have had talks with the homesharing giant in recent weeks about joining forces, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The deal would give Airbnb access to more rental units while exposing the landlords’ digs to Airbnb’s massive web traffic. The deal could drive up already soaring rents if the 250,000 combined units are used as hotel rooms through the site.
Don’t think real estate giants hold all the cards in Airbnb talks, though. Airbnb's last funding round valued the company at $25.5B—putting it right up there with Equity Residential’s $28B. [WSJ]
