GroundUp
South African non-profit news outlet.
GroundUp, a South African non-profit news outlet, counted more than 27,000 Airbnb listings in Cape Town on 28 September and found one host controlling 147 flats in a single inner-city ward.
Last refreshed: 3 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
How many of Cape Town's Airbnbs sit in a few hands?
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Mentioned in: Cape Town eyes commercial rates for lets
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GroundUp is a non-profit news outlet based in Cape Town. It reports on social justice, housing, Labour and the courts, and publishes its work under a Creative Commons licence so that other outlets can republish it.
On 28 September 2026 it published a count of Cape Town's short-let market as the city weighed rating full-time short lets as businesses. It found more than 27,000 Airbnb listings across the city, with close to 6,000 concentrated in ward 115, the inner city. There, hosts with ten or more properties held 40 per cent of listings, and one host controlled 147 units.
Those figures arrived during the public comment period on Cape Town's draft by-law, which closes on 5 October. The by-law would rate full-time short lets at about three times the residential rate from 1 July 2027.
How many Airbnb listings does Cape Town have?
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How many Cape Town units does one Airbnb host control?
