Airbnb Drives Up Rent Costs In Manhattan and Brooklyn, Report Says (cnet.com)

According to a report from New York City's comptroller, Scott Stringer, Airbnb is causing rent prices to increase significantly in Manhattan and Brooklyn (Warning: source may be paywalled: alternative source), where the majority of the company's rentals are concentrated. The New York Times reports: In Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea neighborhoods and the Midtown Business District, which accounted for about 11 percent of all Airbnb listings in New York City in 2016, average monthly rents increased by $398 between 2009 and 2016, of which $86, or 21.6 percent, was a result of Airbnb's presence, the report said. In Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, the study said, rents went up 18.6 percent in those years because of Airbnb listings. Airbnb makes it easy to rent apartments to tourists, taking units off the market for full-time residents, the report said. The report said that Airbnb's influence cost New Yorkers $616 million in additional rent in 2016 as a result of price pressures.

Comments

...and?

[MightyYar]

Every type of economic activity increases rents... like, all of them. New restaurants - increase rents. Jobs increase rents. So you flood an area with tourists and the rents go up? OK, in isolation that sounds bad - but what did all of that tourism money do to the local economy? If rents go up, doesn't that also encourage investment in the neighborhood? How can you just look at this one statistic in isolation? Cities were murdering each other to get the new Amazon headquarters... what would that do to rents?

Re:...and?

[Actually, I do RTFA]

. So you flood an area with tourists and the rents go up?

There's no reason to think there are more tourists visiting NYC. Occupancy rates in hotels are down, year-over-year.

You are right that you have to look at mutliple factors, but you probably would want to compare rents, inflation and wages. After all, the important thing to the average renter is what percent of their money goes to rent.

I got mine

[fluffernutter]

It shouldn't be called the gig economy, it should be called the "I got mine" economy. I'm also partial to the "screw you" economy.

Re:I got mine

[Anonymous Coward]

The people living under rent control aren't in "destitute poverty". And rent control isn't screwing the people making 100x salary. It's screwing the younger people making 1.2x salary, so that someone that retired in 1998 can hold on to a cheap apartment.

If rent control is so great, why don't we add some mobility to the system and just assign rent by birth year. Much more transparent what's going on in that case.

Short term rental should have restrictions

[mark-t]

Rental periods of less than a single calendar month in length should force the entire building to be qualified as a hotel, and require that there be no long term rental or ownership of any units anywhere within the entire building, beyond at most what is necessary for any dedicated management and/or maintenance staff.

Just IMNSHO....

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