After an investigation done by New York government officials, it has turned out that more than half of AIRbnb listings in the city of New York for the month of November are actually illegal.
According to NY Curbed, the NYC government pressured the website to share their user data. Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman took charge of this effort. Although the website, which is now pegged to be worth $24 billion, succumbed last Tuesday to the government's demands, officials refuse to believe that the data shared to them is complete.
Out of the 35,966 listings, 19,742 or 55 percent were deemed illegal. This meant that the listings were for entire apartments, and under their state laws, a renter is prohibited from sub-renting their place for less than 30 days, unless they are one or two family homes. Due to this alarming number, New York Daily News, reports that the NYC government will be spending a hefty sum of $10 million to take down these 'illegal hotels.'
The government saw a huge discrepancy between the numbers provided by AIRbnb to the actual number. The website previously claimed that 95 percent of their revenue comes from listings for entire homes/apartments from users who only have singular listings, but after the investigation, it only turned out to be 75 percent. Additionally, the source says that the website deliberately made it difficult for NYC officials to analyze the data provided.
New York Times reported that AIRbnb hasn't exactly been on good terms with NYC officials, and they have called out the website for being "a significant reason for an increase in overall rent prices and a lack of affordable housing." Their back-and-forth was already happening since May this year for issues regarding transparency.
Manhattan currently has the most listings at 18,756, followed by Brooklyn at 13,822, Queens at 2,530, the Bronx at 431, and lastly, Staten Island at 204.