Airbnb's Effect on New York's Rental Market

A new report from McGill University analyzed Airbnb activity in New York City between September 2014 and August of 2017, and found that Airbnb reduced supply in the city's long-term rental market by between 7,000 and 13,500 units.

The report calculated that Airbnb's activity reduced supply, and had increased median long-term rent in the city by 1.4 percent over the three years, translating into a $380 rent increase for the median New York tenant looking for an apartment this year, and in Manhattan, the increase is more than $700, per CNBC. What's more, the report estimated that under New York State's Multiple Dwelling Law outlawing short-term rentals (fewer than 30 days) in buildings with three or more units, at least two-thirds of Airbnb revenue in New York "is likely generated from illegal listings."

The study also refreshed an earlier study which looked at listings in 72 predominately black neighborhoods across New York and found that three-quarters of the Airbnb hosts in those areas were white. The latest study suggested that Airbnb "continues to have a strongly racialized impact" as the loss of housing, which it blamed on the company, was six times more likely to affect black New Yorkers.

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