A Brief History of Home Swapping

Welcome to Origin Story, a series that chronicles the lesser-known histories of designs that have shaped how we live.

A few years ago, two TikTokers coordinated an apartment exchange inspired by Nancy Meyers’s mid-aughts rom-com The Holiday. It sparked a viral trend on the platform and brought the concept of home swapping back into the zeitgeist. But the phenomenon of temporarily trading houses with a stranger for free has been around much longer than social media. In fact, the practice of home swapping traces back decades. Here, Dwell charts its evolution, from the early days of phonebook–like printed catalogs to the emergence of invite-only online platforms.

1950s through ’70s

For Teachers Who Travel

In 1953, two of the home-swapping industry’s leading networks, Intervac and HomeLink, were established in Europe and the United States, respectively. The former was organized by a group of European teachers looking for affordable travel setups during summer breaks and sabbaticals, while the latter was spearheaded by New York teacher David Ostroff, who typed up a list fora "Vacation Exchange Club" to be shared with other educators. Over the next two decades, the concept’s grasp expanded beyond teacher networks: Pan American World Airways, for example, tapped Ostroff in 1970 to coordinate home exchanges among the international air carrier’s corporate employees.

1980s

Swapping by Snail Mail

As home-swapping networks continued to gain momentum, their services extended outside professional spheres. Prospective house exchangers could pay to be members of established networks like Intervac and HomeLink—or ones newer to the scene like Home Base Holidays—and have their homes listed in directories that were printed multiple times a year for international audiences. When potential home swappers received these flyers and catalogs, they could peruse the listings and coordinate exchanges with other members by phone or via snail mail.