"Sharing economy" used to mean two companies: one for flats, one for rides. In 2026 it means something broader and more boring — and more useful. Tools, cars, bikes, cameras, party gear and parking spaces change hands between neighbours every day, and the regulatory framework around it has matured. Here is an honest picture of where the market stands, without the inflated forecasts.
Where the growth actually is
- Mobility — car-sharing, e-bikes and e-cargo bikes remain the largest segment by revenue. Cargo bike rental in particular grows with every new low-emission zone.
- Space — short-term flats are flattening under city regulation; storage, parking and garage rental are quietly rising.
- Things — peer-to-peer rental of tools, equipment and event gear is the smallest segment and the least consolidated: no dominant European platform, many local ones, and most of the actual transactions still happen in neighbourhood groups and by word of mouth.
- Skills and local services — requests for a handyman, a cleaner or a plasterer posted to a local board are increasingly the first step people take, especially in cities with large expat populations where the usual language-specific groups don't reach.
Why item rental is still small — and why that is an opportunity
Renting a drill from a neighbour has obvious logic and terrible logistics: two people have to meet twice. That friction is why the segment never exploded the way flats and rides did. What has changed is the local density — once a platform has enough listings within a couple of kilometres, the meetups become a five-minute walk, and the maths works. The market is growing city by city, not country by country.
What regulators changed
The most important shift is DAC7, the EU directive in force since 2023: platforms must report sellers who exceed a threshold (30 transactions or €2,000 in a year) to tax authorities. For most occasional lenders it changes nothing — they are below the threshold — but it ended the grey zone. Alongside that, most countries now have explicit simplified regimes for small side income, such as Poland's unregistered business activity with a quarterly limit. Sharing has become a normal, declared way to earn a little.
What it means for an individual in 2026
Three practical consequences. First, the money is real but modest: most active lenders make €25–€200 a month, with a long tail above that for people with seasonal, high-demand equipment. Second, the platform is not your safety net: reputable peer-to-peer platforms host listings and messages and leave payment, deposits and any dispute to the two parties — which is why condition photos and a signed handover protocol are the real infrastructure of the sharing economy. Third, the people who benefit most are the ones who would otherwise be locked out of local markets: newcomers, expats and anyone without the right neighbourhood group.
The environmental case, briefly
A power tool used for 12 minutes in its lifetime is the textbook example. Every rental that replaces a purchase avoids manufacturing, shipping and eventually landfilling one more object. Sharing is the least glamorous and most effective form of the circular economy — nothing has to be redesigned, only used more.
Curious what is being shared near you? Browse local listings or see how renting out your own things works.
Need this gear near you?
Browse rental listings from people near you — often cheaper than a rental shop. And if you have unused gear, list it and start earning.
FAQ — the sharing economy in Europe
What counts as the sharing economy? Any arrangement where an underused asset — a room, a car, a tool, a parking space, a skill — is made available to others for a fee or in exchange, usually through a digital platform that connects the two sides.
Which sharing sectors are growing fastest in Europe? Shared mobility (especially e-bikes and cargo bikes), storage and parking, and local service requests. Short-term flat rental is stagnating under city regulation.
Is peer-to-peer item rental profitable for individuals? Modestly. €25–€200 a month is typical for people with a few well-priced items; it pays for the items, not the rent.
What is DAC7 and does it affect me? An EU rule requiring platforms to report sellers above 30 transactions or €2,000 a year to tax authorities. Below that threshold nothing is reported; above it, your income is simply visible to the tax office — which it should be anyway.
Do I pay tax on sharing income? Yes, it is taxable income everywhere in the EU. Most countries have a simplified regime or threshold for small amounts; check the rule in your country.
Do platforms insure the items or hold the money? Some large mobility platforms do; peer-to-peer item rental platforms such as LocaYo generally do not — payment, deposit and disputes stay between the owner and the renter.
Why are there no large European platforms for renting things? Because the model depends on local density, which has to be built neighbourhood by neighbourhood; that is slow and does not scale the way a ride-hailing app does.
Is sharing really better for the environment? For durable goods, clearly yes: one pressure washer serving twenty households avoids nineteen purchases. The benefit is smaller when sharing requires a lot of extra car trips, which is why local proximity matters.