Article Commodifying Lisbon: A Study on the Spatial Concentration of Short-Term Rentals Iago Lestegás 1,*, João Seixas 2 and Rubén-Camilo Lois-González 3 1 Institute for Studies and Development of Galicia, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain 2 Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, New University of Lisbon, 1069-061 Lisbon, Portugal;
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[email protected]; Tel.: (+34) 881 814 467 Received: 10 December 2018; Accepted: 22 January 2019; Published: 25 January 2019 Abstract: This article explores the relationship between the spatial concentration of short-term rentals in Lisbon’s historic center and the phenomena of uneven development and tourism gentrification. By providing quantitative and qualitative evidence of the uneven geographic distribution of tourist apartments within the municipality of Lisbon, it contributes to the study of the new processes of neoliberal urbanization in the crisis-ridden countries of Southern Europe. It argues that the great share of whole-home rentals and the expansion of the short-term rental market over the housing stock are symptoms of the commodification of housing in the neoliberal city. Due to the loss of consumption capacity by the Portuguese society amid crisis and austerity, real estate developers target external markets and local households must compete for access to a limited housing stock with tourists and other temporary city users. The subsequent global rent gap stimulates the proliferation of vacation rentals at the expense of the supply of residential housing, fueling property prices and jeopardizing housing affordability.