NYC has more Airbnb and VRBO rentals than apartments

The number of rentals on Airbnb and similar companies in New York has now exceeded the number of available apartments, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday (May 18).

This has further constrained tenants looking to live in the city.

The total number of active short-term rentals, from Expedia Group’s Airbnb and Vrbo, now exceeds 22,000, according to third-party data tracker AirDNA, which defines active listings as those with a day booked or available during the week. last month.

This stems from the rental inventory in the area being around 7,500.

The report notes that critics say Airbnb’s business model aims to make housing unaffordable in big cities while encouraging tourism.

Airbnb typically operates in urban markets, while competitor Vrbo often lists entire vacation homes.

Manhattan’s housing market is heating up — the median rent in April is over $3,870 for new leases.

The Bloomberg report says there were 4,709 apartments for rent in the past month, down from 20,743 in 2021 at the same time.

This seems to show that landlords have the upper hand in negotiating with tenants looking to live in crowded urban areas.

Bloomberg wrote that New York has tightened some restrictions on vacation rentals, so platforms must now share lodging and listing data with the city to rent their home for less than 30 days.

See also: Rural American Airbnb hosts earned over $3.5 billion in 2021

PYMNTS recently wrote about Airbnb’s plan to continue emphasizing other parts of its business like rural and on-farm rentals.

The company said farm stays doubled in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, perhaps showing how people’s travel habits have changed as a result of COVID- 19.

And at the same time, more American farmers have turned to the business to make more money.