COVID-19's Impact on Airbnb Market: a Longitudinal Study on Yau Tsim Mong, Hong Kong

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) obstructed the channel, exemplifying the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway between mainland China and Hong Kong, which has carried out a devastating blow on the short-term rental housing in Hong Kong due to decreasing cross-border visitors. In this special period, the cost variation of Airbnb housing reflected the impact of COVID-19 on the local short-term rental housing market. Thus, this paper took Yau Tsim Mong neighbourhood, an area highly affected by visitors, as the case area and studied the changes of Airbnb market and its price elasticity. It was found that: (1) After COVID-19, listings having shorter-term rental periods and lower accessibility were more likely to be eliminated. (2) The central area, Tsim Sha Tsui, fluctuated the most while Jordan witnessed a higher decrease in price after the shutdown caused by COVID-19. (3) High-end houses of higher accessibility to public transport have lower price elasticity but better resilience, indicating their higher ability to resist black swan events, namely sudden exogenous factors like the shutdown in COVID-19 times.