Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

As the sharing economy emerged, the short-term rental market has grown. In 2016, 1% of New York City households operated casual short-term rental units, and 0.14% of NYC housing units were converted to commercial entire home short-term rental units. In order to understand the difference between casual short-term rental units and commercial short-term rental units, this paper analyzes and compares the distributional outcomes of them. Using data from Inside Airbnb, American Community Survey(ACS), and Department of City Planning (DCP), this paper finds commercial short-term rental units are most common in lower-rent neighborhoods within NYC central areas. Neighborhoods with higher percentages of black and Hispanic people are more likely to have commercial entire home short-term rental units, compared to casual entire home short-term rental units. These findings are critical for urban planners and policymakers to limit commercial short-term rental operators, without discouraging casual operators.