Exploring the network of the short-term rental financial complex

The short-term rental market has traditionally been studied at the urban scale, analyzing the socioeconomic consequences of its expansion into cities. By zooming out the scale of investigation, this article proposes to examine the short-term rental complex on a transnational scale exploring how financial systems drive housing exploitation processes through short-term rental markets. Using Airbnb as a lens to observe these dynamics, the goal is to study the composition of its users to better understand the dynamics of speculation and value extraction in the real estate sector. Among Airbnb's diverse user base, some operate within financial networks, benefiting from increased property values driven by rental demand, while others professionally manage multiple properties. For this reason, studying the panorama of Airbnb users serves as a proxy to understand the new forms of housing financialization and exploitation. The present work aims to fill the existing gap by viewing Airbnb and the short-term rental market as a network, presenting a geography that transcends the local context and emphasizes its transnational nature. The study draws on data analysis of host characteristics, particularly their levels of professionalization and internationalization. Studying Airbnb beyond urban scales requires an awareness of user composition and an understanding of the economic interests that drive such networking. Accordingly, unveiling the network highlights another theoretical/methodological objective of this research: to relate the global real estate financial market to the dynamics of the short-term rental one.