Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Airbnb Listings in New York City: Challenges and Opportunities for Urban Housing Sustainability

Seungbee Choi and Sunghwan Kim ()
Additional contact information
Seungbee Choi: Division of Urban Planning & Landscape Architecture, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Republic of Korea
Sunghwan Kim: Department of Economic and Financial Research, Construction & Economic Research Institute of Korea, Seoul 06050, Republic of Korea

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 20, 1-18

Abstract: Short-term rental (STR) platforms like Airbnb have significantly impacted urban housing sustainability, particularly in cities like New York City. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the STR market, raising questions about its resilience and effects on sustainable urban housing. This study addresses the following research questions: (1) How did unit and neighborhood characteristics influence the survival of Airbnb listings during the pandemic? (2) What changes occurred in the factors determining the emergence of new listings during the pandemic? Using data from Inside Airbnb, we applied Cox proportional hazard models and negative binomial regression to analyze changes before and after the pandemic. We found that during the pandemic, price discounts became crucial for listing survival, while traditional quality indicators like superhost status and high ratings lost significance. The importance of subway accessibility decreased, reflecting shifts in traveler preferences. Additionally, new listings were less likely to emerge in high-density Airbnb areas and more likely in neighborhoods with higher crime rates. These findings highlight the need for sustainable regulatory approaches that balance the benefits of STR platforms with protecting housing affordability and community well-being. Our study provides insights for policymakers aiming to promote sustainable urban housing during global crises.

Keywords: short-term rentals; Airbnb; COVID-19 pandemic; urban housing sustainability; survival analysis; negative binomial regression; housing affordability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/20/9140/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/20/9140/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:20:p:9140-:d:1503574

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().