One piece of astonishing news came across the Atlantic this Friday — New York State Government has approved a new legislation, banning locals from renting out their places unless certain conditions are met. Aside from thousands of hosts, Airbnb itself is hit the hardest and will do everything in its power to fight against those lawmakers.
Airbnb has gained immense popularity across the globe since its founding in 2008. With over 2 million listed ready-to-rent properties in 191 countries, it open the door to a cozy, pleasant travel experience at a much lower price than ever before. Of all those alluring destinations, New York City is always one of the world’s’ most visited and beloved cities. Apparently “Airbnb x NYC” could have been a win-win set, a role model for how Internet revolution has shaped the traditional travelling/leisure business model as well as the city’s economic development.
Why are they suddenly locking horns in court?
Like other most populous metropolitan areas, New York City has been suffering from red-hot growth in home prices and passed countless housing regulations against this issue. However, Airbnb has nullified all their efforts as it creates a grey area for short-term renting. People are drooling to buy a house or a flat so that they could rent it out and make considerable amount of money. Therefore the real estate prices soar as buyers are willing to pay more to earn more in the future. This so-called “Airbnb Effects” has spread across the world, from New York to Old Amsterdam. This is the reason while Airbnb never owns or bids for a square foot of its listed rentals, it is criticized for the rapid, sharp house price growth.
However, numerous Airbnb hosts do make a living from their short-term renting business. For instance, some of them could never pay off their mortgage without this income. Meanwhile, without Airbnb, it will be very likely to cost visitors a fortune to experience the wonders in those major cities if they want to maintain their standard of living.
We can obviously see that Airbnb not only alters the business model for short-term renting and travelling, but even has huge impacts to worldwide real estate markets and city development as well as legislation. It means that those virtual online service providers no longer stay invisible but have become nearly a Rising Empire for real changes in our life. Then who will finally win this battle? Will the full-function Airbnb come back to the Big Apple soon?
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-airbnb-new-york-regulations-idUSKCN12L2JV
“New York governor approves new regulations on Airbnb | Reuters”
Hi Min, New York is not the only city right? I read an article about Paris having the same problems…
I don’t think airbnb has that much of an influence on housing prices. The most heard complaint for cities to limit or ban the use of airbnb is neighbors complaining. For example in Amsterdam the city becomes less and less livable due to the amount of tourists in the city. People are even calling it theme park Amsterdam. Putting limits on the use of short term renting can actually prevent people from running mini hotels and at the same time still allow individuals to rent out a room occasionally .