New York’s Airbnb Crackdown Fails to Ease Rents, Report Finds

A review of market indicators two years after New York City enacted a near‑ban on most short‑term rentals shows the policy has not delivered on a central promise: freeing up apartments and lowering rents.

A New York Post report, citing data compiled by the Wall Street Journal, real‑estate services firm CoStar and local market analysts, found Manhattan’s vacancy rate at roughly 2.45 percent and median rent at a record $4,700 a month. Hotel nightly rates in July were up about 7 percent year over year, and hotel occupancy has risen in nearly every month since the law took effect.

Critics of Local Law 18, which the City Council approved in 2023, say its objective of returning housing to the long‑term rental market has not been met. Jonathan Miller, chief executive officer of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, told the Wall Street Journal that the law “doesn’t seem to have a material impact in making rents more affordable.” Nathan Rotman, director of public policy strategy for North America at Airbnb, said the company’s analysis similarly shows the law failed to support housing affordability.

At the height of enforcement, city officials estimated that roughly 38,500 short‑term rental listings were removed from the market. Only about 3,000 short‑term rentals now operate legally under strict requirements such as mandatory host registration and bans on locked‑off rooms. City officials and enforcement authorities say the rules were aimed at ending nuisance behavior associated with some short‑term rentals as well as protecting housing stock.

City enforcement chief Christian Klossner said officials cannot afford to lose units when vacancies are low. "We can’t afford to lose a single unit of housing when there’s a huge vacancy problem in New York City," he told the Wall Street Journal. But some property owners did not convert former short‑term units to the longer 30‑day rentals allowed under the law, and others have left units off the market, dampening any immediate return of supply to the traditional rental stock.

Airbnb has mounted a political and public relations campaign seeking to loosen the rules. The company’s political arm has spent more than $3.6 million in recent months to support candidates who favor relaxing the restrictions and has run targeted advertisements in local races. Airbnb and its supporters argue that host income from short‑term rentals had been an important supplement for many households and that removing that revenue stream has exacerbated affordability pressures.

Opponents of loosening the law include a coalition of tenants' groups, housing advocates and the Hotel Trades Council, which collectively have invested nearly $2 million to defend the 2023 rules. Hoteliers contend the crackdown protected their business and the city’s broader hospitality industry. "Without the law, we would be in a catastrophic situation," said hotelier Richard Born, who owns multiple New York properties.

Analysts caution that short‑term rental restrictions are only one factor among many affecting prices. Researchers point to construction supply, zoning, overall housing production and demand trends as primary determinants of affordability. Evidence from other jurisdictions is mixed: when Irvine, California, banned short‑term rentals in 2018, long‑term rents dipped about 3 percent during the first two years and then rose roughly 8 percent afterward, underscoring the complexity of isolating a single policy’s effect.

Hotel occupancy in New York has been boosted further by tens of thousands of migrants the city has housed in hotels, according to industry data. Airbnb leaders, including Chief Executive Brian Chesky, warned at the time of the law’s passage that removing the platform’s revenue option could push some households into financial strain and would not necessarily increase long‑term housing availability.

Some neighborhood leaders say the law accomplished at least one of its objectives: fewer complaints about short‑term rental‑related parties and disturbances. Council Member Gale Brewer, who previously received frequent constituent complaints about disruptive guests, said the complaints have stopped since the law took effect.

With major events such as next summer’s World Cup expected to bring a surge of visitors to the region and a high‑stakes mayoral election approaching, the debate over whether to relax, reinforce or modify New York’s short‑term rental rules is likely to remain a prominent topic in municipal politics. Proponents and opponents of Local Law 18 continue to present divergent evidence on its effects, and analysts emphasize that broader shifts in housing supply and demand will shape affordability outcomes over the longer term.