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 their Covid-fueled leverage over landlords appears to have run out: The median price for all new leases signed in Manhattan in the last month is now $3,870.

Meanwhile, the new Housing and Vacancy Survey published this week by the city indicated that the availability of the lowest-rent units (e.g. under $1,500 per month) is at a 30-year low.