TY - BOOK AU - Alizadeh, Tooran AU - Farid, Reza AU - Sarkar, Somwrita TI - Towards understanding the socio-economic patterns of sharing economy in Australia: an investigation of Airbnb listings in Sydney and Melbourne metropolitan regions SN - 1476-7244 PY - 2018/// PB - Urban Policy and Research KW - Short Term Lets KW - Australia N1 - KEYWORDS: AirBNB, sharing economy, impact on renting; To cite this article: Tooran Alizadeh, Reza Farid & Somwrita Sarkar (2018): Towards Understanding the Socio-Economic Patterns of Sharing Economy in Australia: An Investigation of Airbnb Listings in Sydney and Melbourne Metropolitan Regions, Urban Policy and Research, DOI: 10.1080/08111146.2018.1460269 N2 - The rapid uptake of the sharing economy is disrupting many socially established models of services, especially in the housing and transportation sectors. This paper builds upon the growing critical scholarship examining the urban equity implications of the giant online sharing accommodation platform, Airbnb. It focuses on Airbnb listings in two major Australian metropolitan regions, Sydney and Melbourne. The paper raises important questions about the socio-economic patterns of Airbnb offering, and basically asks who is taking part in the sharing. It examines the Airbnb listings against the Census-based Socio-Economic Indexes for Area (SEIFA), and housing tenure data. Findings clearly show the biased distribution of Airbnb listings, presenting Airbnb hosting as a relatively affluent phenomena with education as the strongest socio-economic factor determining host participation on the platform. Nevertheless, areas in strategic tourist locations have been identified as places where Airbnb is having a pressing impact, and where imminent regulatory intervention is required UR - https://doi.org/10.1080/08111146.2018.1460269 ER -