To desperate problems, imaginative solutions. A few years ago New York decided to stop the housing crisis which has long dragged with a measure that put the focus directly on Airbnb. The baptized as Local Law 18 made renting floors to tourists, for short stays, of less than 30 days, results Much more complicated and thus achieve a double objective: enforce the sector regulations and protect the low housing offer in the city.
The norm premiered just two years ago.
And the balance is far from being the ideal.
A name: Local Law 18. New York is not the only city that has proposed to limit the supply of holiday rental. Something have done in Florence, London, Barcelona either Madridto name just a handful of examples. The attempt of the Big Apple resulted in particularly media, both because of the repercussion that the city has and its content. The known as Local Law 18approved in September 2023, imposed limitations to those who were dedicated to lease their houses for periods of less than 30 days.
From entry NY demanded that the Caseros register and prohibited AirbnB (and similar platforms) to manage reservations if the accommodations did not meet that requirement, a measure similar to that incorporated with Spain with their “Single record“Not only that. In addition to registering, the law established that the landlords must comply with certain guidelines That in practice it limits who (and especially how) can be put in the market: nothing to rent whole houses, only rooms, the hosts must be present and the number of guests is also very restricted.
A double objective. With the new standard the New York authorities pursued two goals. The first, to facilitate the coexistence in the apartments blocks in which residential and holiday floors lived. The second (and most important) Palliar The housing crisis that dragged the city. Two years later the communities of neighbors of the Big Apple may have fewer problems with groups of noisy tourists, but there are serious doubts that the second purpose, the really ambitious, has been achieved.
The best test was left a few days ago by the newspaper The Wall Street Journal in A broad analysis With a title that is at the same time a sentence and demonstrates that (at least) the debate remains open: “The campaign against Airbnb in New York has not improved the housing offer.” Although since September 2023 New Yorkers have more complicated to offer their floors in Airbnb or Booking does not seem that this has translated into a distension of the residential market.
On the contrary, The newspaper affirms Conservative: “It is more difficult than ever finding an apartment to rent in the city.” And that is something that can be checked by consulting both prices and housing stock available in NY.
What do the data say? That New York floors have not stopped becoming more expensive in the last two years. Zillow shows for example that the average long -stay rental price is now in $ 3,750150 more than a year ago. “The law does not seem to have a significant impact on getting leases more affordable,” confirms a TWSJ Jonathan Miller, manager of a real estate appraisal company. According to its calculations, the market has even reached a historical maximum of $ 4,700 per month in Manhattan, although it acknowledges that factors such as lack of new work influence that figure.
Airbnb also handles data that show that NY tenants do not have it easier today than before the local law 18. The platform is an interested party and that must be taken into account when driving Your figuresbut they are eloquent: the New York City rental index rose 8.1%, that of Manhattan 8.6%, Brooklyn 7.7%and Queens 6.5%. The portal also warns of the “load” involved in rental for the pockets of the periphery families. “Almost three million New Yorkers pay more than 30% of their income for rent,” prevents.
A percentage: 2.45%. It is not just about the cost of rent. The housing stock available in NY still is not what is said Boyante, which a priori would facilitate prices to soften. Miller assures That last July the vacancies for residential rental in Manhattan marked a meager 2.45%, near the historical minimum. In that same idea affects Airbnb, which a few days ago launched A statement regretting that, despite the fact that short -term rentals in New York have fallen more than 90%, “rental vacancies have dropped 0.5%” with respect to 2023. And everything, insists the platform“without signs of a significant improvement in housing availability.”
But … how is it possible? The million dollar question. And it has no easy answer. To start there is something obvious and that is that the NY market It takes time facing challenges such as the rise of rentals or the shortage of the stock, which do not respond to a single factor. In addition the Big Apple is not the only US region that has dealt with The increase of housing, aggravated by the lack of new work.
In your analysis TWSJ It provides data Interesting that helps to understand why local law 18 has failed to reverse the trend and its effect has barely appreciated: although two years ago there were thousands of floors available to tourists on Airbnb, they actually suppose only a small part of NY’s huge real estate cake.
In early 2023 in the city there were around 38,500 Airbnb units, As needed The economic newspaper, a very low fact if one takes into account that in the free market there were more than one million residential units. Right now the special compliance office has registered only 3,000 rentals in the short term that the strict requirements of the law meet and can be announced legally. That does not mean that the remaining thousands of floors are leased by New York families that use them as stable and permanent homes.
Another fact: 35,000 homes. There are owners who, not being able to rent their floors to tourists for short stays, chose not to lease or simply announce them for longer periods, greater than 30 days, which would not be affected by the limitations of the new law. In 2024 Airdna found that there were 35,000 New York apartments that were published on Airbnb for rooms of 30 or more nights. At that time, Law 18 had only been in force, but still the data is revealing and shows that there may be homemade who choose to alternate long rentals with periods in which they have their home.
The other protagonists: hotels. In the equation there is another factor, hotels. Airbnb Slide that have been the great beneficiaries of the new law to the detriment of tourists’ pocket and the distribution of the wealth generated by tourists. And it provides a figure to justify it: citing costing data, ensures that in the last two years the prices of NY hotels have increased by 12.6%, “more than triple the increase nationwide.” The platform ensures that this affects local tourism directly and will force the New York Tourism Office to reduce its forecast of visitors already for this exercise.
TWSJ contributes Also some interesting data: booking a room in a New York hotel cost on July 283 dollars, 7% more than two years ago. In 2024, when Law 18 had only been in force, the American press It echoed already of increases in the price of hotels or that there were even travelers who They chose to stay In Jersey City, Hoboken or Weehawken, areas near the metropolis, with good communication and short -term rentals. In Jersey City his demand was in fact shot 77% In just one year.
Is it all negative? No. And that explains that the debate remains open. Local Law 18 may have failed to resolve the complicated situation that housing in NY is going through, but its supporters provide some data in their favor. For example, the supply of Airbnb floors two years ago was relatively low (38,000), but local authorities insist that the city cannot do without it.
“We cannot afford to lose a single housing unit when there is a huge empty housing problem,” reason Chirstian Klossner, of the Special Execution Office. Under the new legislation, the city too It has gone against accommodations that did not comply with the necessary minimums.
A (very) alive debate. The undeniable thing two years later is that the debate remains so or even more alive than in 2023. Opponents of Law 18 They assure that penalizes tourism and local businesses and warn that the standard is counterproductive for the residential market. “Many New Yorkers were actually normal and currents who depended on Airbnb to pay their rent or mortgage,” It prevented Brian Chesky, from Airbnb, who says that the hosts received that extra income from their floors while they were traveling for work or vacations.
In the opposite pole are those who They are suspicious of the Airbnb effect on cities, displacing homes of the residential market to the holiday rental (much more juicy), encouraging a Price climb and favoring gentrification. NIGHT TOURISTS ENARBOLA A study which concludes that 9% of the rise in the rents experienced by the city between 2009 and 2016 is attributable to Airbnb.
Images | Ben O’Bro (UNSPLASH) and Airbnb
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