The UK’s top five ‘sharing economy’ sectors might reap £140bn in transactions by 2025 according tofigures released by PwC.
That’s a 20-fold increase on today’s figure of £7bn and a huge step up from the £9bn in revenue generated by the sharing economy in the UK estimated by the company two years ago.
PwC says it has revisited the question of the market opportunity and with better data availability and analysis has updated its forecast.
The top five so-called ‘sharing economy’ sectors include collaborative finance, peer-to-peer accommodation and peer-to-peer transportation.
In Europe, the research shows transactions from these peer-to-peer marketplaces could rise to Euro 570bn by 2025, up from Euro 28bn today.
The analysis goes on to describe the UK as a hub for the ‘sharing economy’ sector with a “strong startup scene and proactive support from policy makers.”
PwC economist Robert Vaughan says there’s evidence that these peer-to-peer models are influencing consumer behaviour.
“On-demand ridesharing apps like Uber are changing the way we get around our cities, while peer-to-peer accommodation sites like Airbnb are encouraging a new generation to travel more often and to different places.”
The figures are interesting in the wake of crack-downs in Berlin on Airbnb and similar accommodation platforms which authorities say are pricing locals out of the rental market.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Airbnb’s home town, the platform is suing the city for a new law which requires hosts to register with the city. Daily fines of $1,000 will be imposed on the platform and other short-term rental players such as VRBO and HomeAway for unregistered hosts.
There are further challenges to the model with ABTA chief Mark Tanzer recently saying that some cities could be ruined because of the influx of tourists.
An article in the Observer points to numbers from Cowen & Co suggesting Airbnb hosts will be taking a billion bookings a night by 2025.
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