Airbnb dropped a news bulletin today that’ll probably make your head hurt.
It’s full of broad claims and mysterious photos, so we figured we’d give you the skinny, nice and simple: they’re jumping into real estate.
The move will include old-fashioned buying and selling, along with some new brainwaves. Airbnb’s futures division, Samara, is spearheading the project, called Airbnb Backyard. Starting next year, Backyard will roll out protoype homes of their own design and build (standalones and multi-units) alongside a planned marketplace of sustainable construction materials.
So … how does this tie into the home-rental service’s bread and butter? Early details suggest many of these homes will be available for prospective hosts (and in turn, their guests), and the intention is to carry on Airbnb’s main tenets — space-sharing and sustainability. Expect, then, homes that can be added to (modular housing is a growing trend) and many more aimed at co-habitation.
Is this all a good idea? In theory, yes. Leaving all your eggs in the highly-temporal Internet basket is foolish, and there’s nothing more solid than land with a concrete foundation. We’ll just have to wait and see. Prototype photos would certainly be a nice start, @Airbnb.
For more (albeit mysterious) information on the development, head here.
Image from Samara
h/t Fast Company
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
