The short-term let market grew by almost 12% last year, with travellers booking 101 million nights in Airbnb-type holiday rentals across the UK compared to 91 million in 2024.
Across individual countries, Northern Ireland had the lowest increase in bookings, up by 10.8% year on year, while Scotland rose by 10.9%, and England by 11.1%, data from the Office for National Statistics shows.
Wales had the steepest increase in the number of guest nights booked at 17.4%, from 6,282,250 in 2024 to 7,374,780 in 2025.
Following the previous year’s trend, January had the fewest number of guest nights in 2025, with 4,344,890 during the month (4.3% of the 2025 total).
Guest nights increased in all regions between January and December 2025 compared with the same period in 2024.
The region with the biggest increase was in the North East at 22.2%, from 2,253,220 to 2,753,800 guest nights.
London, while having the largest number of guest nights of all regions, had the lowest increases, with bookings up by 6.3%, from 20,270,590 to 21,557,480.
Bookings remain concentrated in a small number of local authorities, with nearly a quarter (24.4%) being spent in nine of the 361 local authorities in the UK between January and December 2025.
Of these, seven are in England (Westminster, Cornwall, North Yorkshire, Kensington and Chelsea, Camden, Westmorland and Furness, and Liverpool), and two are in Scotland (City of Edinburgh and Highland).
Among local authorities, North Yorkshire had the largest increase in guest nights booked, rising by 452,960 (20.5%), followed by Cornwall, rising by 449,450 (13%).
By contrast, Brighton and Hove had the largest fall in the number of guest nights, decreasing by 35,900 (3.7%).
Propertymark chief executive Nathan Emeson says: “The latest ONS data highlights the continued growth of short-term lets but also reinforces concerns about the impact they can have on the supply of homes available in the private rented sector.
“While short-term lets support tourism and local economies, an increasing number of properties being diverted from long-term rental use can reduce housing availability and place further pressure on affordability, particularly in high-demand areas.
“These figures demonstrate the need for local authorities to have access to robust data and appropriate powers to address imbalances where short-term lets are affecting housing supply.
“Propertymark continues to call for greater parity between the short-term lets sector and the private rented sector, ensuring communities can benefit from tourism without compromising access to homes for local residents.”
