Los Angeles ranks No. 1 in the nation for both the number of short-term rentals and the ratio of short-term rentals to hotel rooms, a rapid increase that occurred amid the legislation of the city cracking down on Airbnb and other short-stay platforms.
The figures come from a snapshot of the fourth quarter of 2019 that the Los Angeles headquarters CBRE Group Inc. took the total number of active units on Airbnb websites and other short-stay platforms, including HomeAway and Sonder.
Los Angeles County landlords and renters actively sublet 23,413 units for short-term stays, a 9.0% jump from 2018, according to the study.
The number of actively rented short-stay units exceeded that of the New York City market, which CBRE counted to have 20,972 units, a 1.8% boost from the fourth quarter of 2018.
Los Angeles (and New York, for that matter) has sought to curb short-term rentals, whose reputed ills include biasing local rental markets and, therefore, dwindling affordable housing, and causing security concerns ( and nuisance) for neighbors who never negotiated to live by a rotating distribution of travellers.
A City of Los Angeles law took effect Oct. 31 after four years of legislative debate tightened reporting requirements for those using Airbnb and other short-stay platforms, and banned second homes and rent-controlled units used as short-term rentals.
But the CBRE figures follow a McGill University study from December that also found the legislation had no effect on Los Angeles’ growing short-term rental market.
How the growing volume of the short-term rental economy has impacted the hospitality industry is a recurring question.
Among the 30 largest U.S. hotel markets, Los Angeles has the highest proportion of short-term rental units to hotel rooms, 22.3% of the county’s total 105,038 registered hotel rooms. THE.
In contrast, for every 100 hotel rooms in New York, there are approximately 17 short-term rental units.
CBRE notes that Los Angeles’ hotel economy appears to be in good shape, with gradually rising room prices, which has been $180 at the end of 2018. However, the report warns that Airbnb could make developers wary of building more hotels in Los Angeles. Short-term rentals have “evolved from catering to adventurous millennial travelers to targeting core hotel guests like business travel,” the report notes.
This historic change in consumer behavior has yet to firm up Airbnb’s results. The company, which may go public trading this year, reportedly lost $322 million in the first three quarters of 2019 after posting a profit of $200 million in the first three quarters of 2018.
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