The European rental accommodation platform, HousingAnywhere, is experiencing a modest resurgence in activity after a 90 per cent decline in transactions in March. To support that trend, the administrator of the online brokerage for medium-term rental agreements will waive service fees and commission for landlords and tenants posting availabilities and/or booking move-ins up until June 30.

“We want to help landlords stay afloat in these difficult times, while also making renting a little bit easier for tenants who could undoubtedly use a financial break,” says Djordy Seelmann, chief executive officer HousingAnywhere, headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. “We want to support the businesses of our landlords by removing barriers preventing them from securing new bookings.”

The platform typically boasts about 50,000 active listings for rental accommodations, stretching across several European markets that have suffered high rates of COVID-19, including Spain, Italy and the city of London. Its targeted renter base — young professionals and international students — have also pulled back on travel and relocating for work or school during the COVID-19 outbreak.

“In the past two weeks the trend broke and we saw a slight recovery in interest, both on a national and international level,” Seelmann reports. “When international travel restrictions will be lifted is something we’ll have to see. In the meantime, we want to contribute to keeping our landlords’ businesses afloat and get their properties booked as easily as possible.”