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It's not uncommon to visit tourist-magnet cities and see entire buildings with only a few lights on, as many units are owned by the wealthy and left empty, as r
by ilamont 3y ago
It's not uncommon to visit tourist-magnet cities and see entire buildings with only a few lights on, as many units are owned by the wealthy and left empty, as rents are not as important as having a safe place to "park surplus capital." Thousands of other units have been pulled from the long-term rental market to reap the higher returns of STVRs [short term vacation rentals].
In NYC, another sign of STVR buildings are lockboxes chained to metal railings outside.
Starting tomorrow (September 5) such rentals are supposed to follow very strict new rules introduced by the Adams administration including hosts required to live in the same unit and reservation caps of no more than 2 people. Whole apartment rentals are banned unless the term is longer than 30 days.
https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/8/15/23832212/how-new-airbnb-registration-system-works https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/8/15/23832212/how-new-airbnb-re...
- palmer_fox 3y agoHaven't heard of this change! Thanks for posting. Curious to see how this will affect the STVR market (even just the number of postings and their availability on AirBnb).
- ilamont 3y agoIf the rules are backed by strong enforcement, it will gut the market and likely result in many airbnb investor-type landlords selling properties. Whether this leads to the "bubble popping" scenario described in the parent article remains to be seen.
- palmer_fox 3y agoSomeone mentioned in this thread that a likely scenario is these landlords switching to mid- or long-term rentals instead of selling. Which sounds very plausible to me, especially in a city like NYC, where the rental market is always hot.
- Bukhmanizer 3y ago> In NYC, another sign of STVR buildings are lockboxes chained to metal railings outside. Maybe as a correlation, but these lockboxes are used for everything in NYC, dogwalkers, nanny’s, house cleaners, apartment viewings, etc.
- satvikpendem 3y agoIndeed, we use ours for our house cleaners. It doesn't really say anything about whether it's an Airbnb or not.
- amadeuspagel 3y ago> It's not uncommon to visit tourist-magnet cities and see entire buildings with only a few lights Maybe they're just not home?
- unmole 3y ago> It's not uncommon to visit tourist-magnet cities and see entire buildings with only a few lights on, as many units are owned by the wealthy and left empty Talk is cheap. Show me the maths. NYC has a vacancy rate of ~3%. That's the lowest in the country.
- eckmLJE 3y agoVacancy is for rentals. If you own a condo and leave it empty / don’t live in it, that doesn’t show up in a vacancy rate.
- JambalayaJim 3y agoAre you referring to someone declaring a condo as their primary residence and not using it as such? Or are you saying that all condos do not count towards the vacancy rate? If there is lots of evidence for the former; it should be shown.