The number of rentals on Airbnb and similar companies in New York City has now surpassed the number of available apartments, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (May 18).
This has further constrained renters looking to live in the city.
The total number of active short-term rentals, from Airbnb and Expedia Group’s Vrbo, is now over 22,000, according to third-party data tracker AirDNA, which defines active listings as those with one reserved or available day in the past month.
That comes as rental inventory in the area is just around 7,500.
The report noted that critics say Airbnb’s business model is geared to make homes unaffordable in large cities while encouraging tourism.
Airbnb usually operates in urban markets, while, competitor Vrbo often lists whole vacation homes.
The Manhattan housing market is getting more intense — the median rent in April is over $3,870 for new leases.
The Bloomberg report said there were 4,709 apartments to rent in the past month, a decrease from the 20,743 in 2021 at the same time.
That seems to show landlords have the upper hand in negotiating with tenants looking to live in the crowded city areas.
Bloomberg wrote that New York has tightened some restrictions on vacation rentals, so now platforms have to share hosting and listing data with the city to rent out their home for less than 30 days.
See also: Rural US Airbnb Hosts Made Over $3.5B in 2021
PYMNTS wrote recently of Airbnb’s plan to keep accentuating the other parts of its business like rural and farm rentals.
The company said farm stays had doubled in the first quarter this year, compared to the same time in 2019 before the pandemic, perhaps showing how peoples’ habits of travel have changed as a result of COVID-19.
And at the same time, more U.S. farmers have looked to the company as a way to earn more money.
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