Archinect - News

Short-term rentals are putting a record squeeze on renters in the Big Apple

2022-05-20T12:14:00-04:00

The total number of short-term rentals of entire homes in the city’s five boroughs -- those listed on Airbnb Inc. and Expedia Group Inc.’s Vrbo -- is more than 13,000, according to third-party data tracker AirDNA. Meanwhile, rental inventory in Manhattan, Brooklyn and a portion of Queens hovers just over 7,500. The vacancy rate in Manhattan sat at just over 1.5% last month, the second-lowest level on record, according to appraiser Miller Samuel Inc.

Adding to the all-too-familiar notion that short-term rentals have the ability to destroy the livability of a place in its entirety, new data from Douglas Elliman and AirDNA making the rounds today indicate a record-setting shift in the dynamics of urban life as the number of hosted retreats in New York City has surpassed traditional apartment rentals for the first time.

New York’s rental market is in the midst of coming out of the pandemic strong as ever with prices skyrocketing 23 percent to early 2020 levels, fueled in part by an 83.3 percent drop in the total number of rental listings in Manhattan year-over-year. Airbnb responded by saying the findings offer merely “an unfairly narrow look at rental unit availability in a portion of the city,” but the numbers tell a different story. In the last year alone, the stock of available units in the city dwindled by a staggering 16,000 from its 20,743 peak to a new record-low of 4,709.

The end result for renters is sadly predictable as...

Can the pace of San Francisco's affordable housing development help it pass state hurdles?

2022-04-08T12:59:00-04:00

San Francisco’s housing element, which will be before the planning commission for a hearing Thursday, must meet a tall order. Not only must it plan for 82,000 units but it also must create a blueprint for “fair housing.” That means that a significant amount of the new residential development must occur in “well-resourced” neighborhoods where discrimination and zoning rules have historically combined to keep out newcomers and new buildings.

The city’s compliance with the recommendations in the state-manded RHNA (or Regional Housing Needs Assessment) plan would mean tripling its current housing stock by the year 2031. It would also change the socio-economic fabric of the shifting neighborhood schematic, as a total of 85% of all new developments have gone into just seven of San Francisco’s 36 official districts since Gavin Newsome’s first year as mayor in 2005.

“This is the first plan that is treating housing as a right, as a foundation for health and the economy,” planning director Miriam Chion boasted. “We have produced substantial housing around downtown. Now there is a different demand, a different ask, a different requirement, which is to create a different housing footprint of mid-sized and small multi-family housing throughout high-resource neighborhoods.”

Previously on Archinect: California demands Los Angeles County rezone for 255,000 new housing units... by mid-October

The draft report is due to the California D...

California demands Los Angeles County rezone for 255,000 new housing units... by mid-October

2022-02-28T18:41:00-05:00

Los Angeles must rezone to accommodate an additional quarter-million new homes by mid-October after state housing regulators rejected the city’s long-term plan for growth. If city leaders do not fix the housing plan or complete the rezoning by the new deadline, they could lose access to billions of dollars in affordable housing grants, officials with the state Department of Housing and Community Development said in a letter this week.

Los Angeles County had previously planned to add exactly 10% of the new mandate in the form of housing specifically for the homeless by the year 2025. It has also given some additional leeway to homeowners wishing to install ADUs, which can play a crucial role in meeting the state’s pressing development needs. (Current estimates have the number of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles at over 66,000.)

The state’s report also derided LA County’s development plan for its overall lack of parks programming and investments into lower-income communities. The punitive measures against the plan seems paradoxical considering the dodges certain communities have attempted in other parts of California. Officials said they will amend plans in time for the next round of funding reviews in May, but that the breakneck pace of development required to meet the new state requirements in under eight months would outstrip even North Korea in terms of its speed and practicality.

“Rezoning the ...

LA has a housing crisis – but the problem isn't those fancy new towers

2016-05-17T14:11:00-04:00

What’s the root cause of Los Angeles’ affordable housing crisis? Many blame the new luxury housing developments springing up... driving up interest in the neighborhood and attracting hipsters. Landlords take notice and soon rents start climbing. That’s the story anyway. But here’s the thing: If booming development in hot markets like Hollywood and downtown is why rents keep going up... why have the same price increases hit locales with extremely limited development?

"Because our problems aren’t driven by a local phenomenon but by a regional one: low residential vacancy rates. Nothing is more important, and data from the American Community Survey confirm this. Zooming out to look at the 20 largest U.S. cities rather than local ZIP codes, the correlation between prices and vacancies is four times stronger than the correlation between prices and new development."

According to experts, 5% vacancy is the magic number defining the landlord-renter relationship. Above it, the landlord is forced to lower rents or offer incentives to attract renters. Below it, expect to pay exorbitant rates for that roach-infested closet.

So in other words, it's a paucity of housing stock in general driving the city's housing crisis, rather than a few flashy towers.

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