Short-term rental demand rises in NJ after NYC restricts Airbnb
It’s been about six months since New York City placed major restrictions on short-term rental properties like Airbnb – and North Jersey is reaping the benefits.
In September, New York City enacted the Short-Term Rental Registration Law. The policy requires short-term rental hosts to register their property to the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement and prohibits booking service platforms from facilitating transactions for unregistered short-term rentals. Additionally, hosts on platforms like Airbnb cannot rent out an entire apartment or home for bookings of less than 30 days, and instead can only rent out a room in a space that permanent residents are living in.
Because of this, there are now fewer than 5,000 short-term rentals on Airbnb in New York City, according to Inside Airbnb, a housing advocacy group that compiles data from Airbnb’s website. In contrast, there are more than 34,000 rentals available for stays of 30 days or more – which do not require registration for short-term rental licenses.
While there has not be an increase in short-term rental listings in New Jersey, these restrictions have created a higher demand for short-term rentals here.
In fact, areas like Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken and Union City have seen a dramatic increase in demand for short-term rentals because of their proximity to New York City and their ability to offer quick access to Manhattan. According to AirDNA – a short-term rental intelligence firm – demands for short-term rentals rose by 84% in Jersey City, 59% in Weehawken, 40% in Union City and 35% in Hoboken in February 2024 compared to this time last year.
The policy was created to free up housing that was being used as shortterm rentals to create more long-term housing solutions and mitigate rising rent prices in New York City. But, rents increased by 2.3% in January and available rental inventory decreased by 9.2% since August, according to Apartment List.
Airbnb said that the approach taken by New York City was extreme, and has resulted in more short-term rental activity on unregulated platforms and a drastic increase in hotel prices. As a result, 65% of people said they’re less likely to visit New York City in a recent survey conducted by Airbnb. They said this not only affects city residents who relied on income from short-term rental hosting, but also small businesses in outer boroughs that are seeing less visitors since the policy began.