Last September, New York City started enforcing its strict new regulations on short-term rentals. The number of legal, short-term rentals on Airbnb and other sites has reportedly decreased.
Less than a year into the city’s policy, known as Local Law 18, it’s unclear whether the near-ban is achieving one of its central goals: relieving pressure on the city’s severe housing shortage. But as summer tourism heats up, the dearth of rentals and rising hotel-room prices mean visitors to the city are in for an even pricier trip than they probably bargained for.
Under LL18, the following are put in place: one can be eligible to list their residential property for less than 30 days if their unit is in a building that is certified safe for their guests, they rent to a maximum of two guests at one time, and they stay in the home together with their guests, among other restrictions. Potential hosts must apply for approval from the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.
The city launched its application portal last March and, as of June 24th, received a total of 6,395 applications for short-term rental, according to OSE. The city has approved 2,276 of these, denied 1,746, and asked 2,269 applicants to send in additional information, according to the office.
That small number of approvals has led to a dramatic decline in short-term listings since last year, according to AirDNA, a industry data collector. From August to September of last year, when the city began enforcing LL18, Airbnb listings for stays of less than 30 days plummeted from 22,246 to 8,039. They recently fell again to a low of 2,646 in October and have since then been slowly climbing to near 4,000 in May, about 82 percent below the level last August.
