There's a line: if it becomes more profitable to rent at Airbnb's nightly rates than at monthly / long-term rates, property investors will then drive down long-term housing supply, increasing property values and monthly rents.
Airbnb's claim is that there is no evidence suggesting that the line has been crossed, so the only impact of their service is that existing landowners / renters get to line their pockets a bit.
They don't have a leg to stand on if you see people successfully investing in property to rent exclusively at short-term rates, which has started to happen in some markets [1][2]. I'm tempted to cheekily link to their own blog post here indicating that 13% of their NYC hosts are doing exactly this.
And don't even get me started on the fact that while looking for a place to live, landlords have justified their insane asking rate by telling me that the previous tenant rented out a spare room on Airbnb.
And don't even get me started on the fact that while looking for a place to live, landlords have justified their insane asking rate by telling me that the previous tenant rented out a spare room on Airbnb.
Ah, that's lovely. Coupled with the "no subletting" clause standard in NYC leases, this means that landlords can jack up rent while also giving themselves an easy excuse to terminate your lease at any point in the future when they decide it's convenient (for them) to do so.
(If you think this is too sleazy and underhanded to be believable, you've never tried renting an apartment in NYC. There are certainly some great exceptions - my current management co. is great - but I've heard some great horror stories, and experienced one of my own.)
it's a strange thing to contemplate how a startup like this could directly contribute to housing cost inflation in your own backyard. and to think you might be right - the answer could be you might need to give up some privacy (let strangers have run of your home) to live where you want - wow - that's a bright future we're working with.
i'm an apartment dweller myself - i'm going to check with the building management today to see if they ban this kind of short term rental in my building. at least protect myself on my own turf.
To use an extremely scarce resource that is considered to be valuable by most humans. I am sure there are no problems like these in cheaper, less popular cities.
There are entire walk-ups in New York dedicated to short-term leasing through Airbnb. Entire walk-ups. A friend of mine has a landlord that does this. I only appreciated on an academic level the effects that Airbnb would have on the rental market until I learned about this practice. Now, it's very real to me.
Comments
There's a line: if it becomes more profitable to rent at Airbnb's nightly rates than at monthly / long-term rates, property investors will then drive down long-term housing supply, increasing property values and monthly rents.
Airbnb's claim is that there is no evidence suggesting that the line has been crossed, so the only impact of their service is that existing landowners / renters get to line their pockets a bit.
They don't have a leg to stand on if you see people successfully investing in property to rent exclusively at short-term rates, which has started to happen in some markets [1][2]. I'm tempted to cheekily link to their own blog post here indicating that 13% of their NYC hosts are doing exactly this.
And don't even get me started on the fact that while looking for a place to live, landlords have justified their insane asking rate by telling me that the previous tenant rented out a spare room on Airbnb.
1. http://needwant.com/p/buying-apartment-airbnb/ 2. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/01/20/home-sharing-sit...
Ah, that's lovely. Coupled with the "no subletting" clause standard in NYC leases, this means that landlords can jack up rent while also giving themselves an easy excuse to terminate your lease at any point in the future when they decide it's convenient (for them) to do so.
(If you think this is too sleazy and underhanded to be believable, you've never tried renting an apartment in NYC. There are certainly some great exceptions - my current management co. is great - but I've heard some great horror stories, and experienced one of my own.)
it's a strange thing to contemplate how a startup like this could directly contribute to housing cost inflation in your own backyard. and to think you might be right - the answer could be you might need to give up some privacy (let strangers have run of your home) to live where you want - wow - that's a bright future we're working with.
i'm an apartment dweller myself - i'm going to check with the building management today to see if they ban this kind of short term rental in my building. at least protect myself on my own turf.
To use an extremely scarce resource that is considered to be valuable by most humans. I am sure there are no problems like these in cheaper, less popular cities.
There are entire walk-ups in New York dedicated to short-term leasing through Airbnb. Entire walk-ups. A friend of mine has a landlord that does this. I only appreciated on an academic level the effects that Airbnb would have on the rental market until I learned about this practice. Now, it's very real to me.
Entire walk-ups.