Housing and tourism analysis
Is Airbnb emptying the city?
2026 Airbnb listings compared with the emptying city, the appreciating city and the city of second homes: Cancún's Airbnb follows price, not emptying.
In one sentenceOrients short-term-rental regulation toward where it concentrates — second homes and appreciating areas — rather than emptying areas.
Spanish original: ¿El Airbnb vacía la ciudad?
Is Airbnb emptying the city?
A common hypothesis is that vacation rentals displace residents.
This atlas sets 2026 Airbnb listings next to the city that is emptying, the one that is appreciating and the one of second homes, to see which it matches.
Key findings
It does not follow emptying
Blocks losing population have almost the same Airbnb intensity as those gaining (0.38 and 0.37 listings per 100 dwellings, excluding second homes).
It follows price
Appreciating superblocks have 6.7 times more listings per dwelling than depreciating ones; 49% of all listings are there.
New housing oriented to rental
31% of listings are in blocks that had no housing in 2020, and where second homes predominate intensity is 11 times higher.
Approach
Step 1
Assign 2026 Airbnb listings to the series' 12,639 blocks.
Step 2
Compare intensity (listings per 100 dwellings) between blocks losing, gaining or keeping population, and between appreciating and depreciating areas.
Step 3
Repeat the comparisons without occasional-use housing to separate the second-home effect.
How to read it
- Listings are from 2026 and housing from 2020: a six-year lag.
- A listing is not a dwelling; the layer does not show accommodation type or availability.
- This is a territorial association: it does not rule out individual displacement, which would require household data.
Data
Airbnb 2026
Listings by block.
2010 and 2020 Censuses
Population and private housing (occupied, vacant, occasional use).
Market prices
Dynamics by superblock 2016–2023.
What you just saw
Hypothesis test between listings, population change and land value, with controls.
What else this method can answer
- Where do short-term rentals concentrate?
- Which areas should be monitored?
- What about new housing the census did not see?
In other places
Needs listings, two censuses and land values.
Line of work
D · Territorial diagnosis and monitoring →Do you have a similar question in your city?
Describe the problem
Next in Land, housing and zoningThe appreciation frontier