Abstract
I estimate the welfare and distributional impact of the home-sharing platform Airbnb on New York City renters. I develop a structural model of an integrated housing market with two novel features. First, in addition to the traditional long-term rental market, absentee landlords can reallocate their housing units to the newly available short-term rental market. Second, residents can directly host short-term visitors, increasing housing utilization. Overall, renters in NYC suffer a welfare loss of $2.4 billion, where losses from increased rents dominate gains from hosting. Moreover, the increased rent burden falls most heavily on high-income, educated, and white renters. By characterizing winners and losers, this paper provides a framework for evaluating the impact of such technological innovations.
Affordable Housing Architecture Asia Borrowing Constraints Canada China Colombia Commercial Brokerage covid-19 CRE Credit Risk Transfers Debt Market Demographics Development e-Commerce Equity Market Ethnic Factors Europe Foreclosures Global Global Financial Crisis hospitality Housing & Residential Housing Supply India inflation Investing land use regulation Macroeconomics Microeconomics Mixed-Use Mobility Mortgage Rates Mortgages Multi-family Non-Traditional Mortgages office sector Political Risk Real Estate Investment Trusts Recession Rental Retail South America Sub-Prime Mortgages Sustainability United States Urban Urbanization work from home