BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast - BiggerNews: Have the Airbnb Bans Backfired on Big Cities? w/Taylor Marr

Starting point is 00:00:00 What role do short-term rentals play in the broader economy? Do short-term rentals positively contribute to local economies, or do they raise rents and hurt affordability for locals? Today, we're digging into the economics of short-term rentals. Hey, everyone, it's Dave. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see that we are bringing you this episode live in-person, recording from Airbnb's office here in New York City. Today, we're talking to Taylor Marr, who is a senior head.

Starting point is 00:00:34 housing economist at Airbnb. He's formerly the deputy chief economist of Redfin. You may have heard him on our sister podcast on the market. He's been a frequent guest there. And Taylor is an authority on the housing market at large, but also now a specialist in the short-term rental space. Today, we're going to discuss with Taylor, his take on the economy and housing market overall, how the short-term rental space has changed since 2021 and the current state of short-term rentals and their impact on local economies. Thank you for having me. It's good to be here. Well, tell me about your role here at Airbnb.

Starting point is 00:01:09 Last time we chatted, you were still at Redfin. So what is your new role? That's right. So I am Airbnb's first ever senior housing economist, and I was brought on to really pick off and launch their housing research program. That is a program that we're doing some research internally to better understand the interaction between the housing market and the short-term rental industry,

Starting point is 00:01:30 but also collaborate and share more data. with academics. We also work with a housing council that we launched. These are a panel of experts outside of Airbnb completely independent that can help us advise on certain housing issues, as well as that we can contribute to organizations that really support the growth of housing. There is undeniably a shortage of about three to five million homes in the U.S. that is needed to solve the housing crisis. And we want to also be a part of that solution and better understand which organizations are doing something. We've donated millions of dollars to support different organizations, support their efforts to unlock more housing development.

Starting point is 00:02:09 We've also tried to work with academics to better understand the different ways that there may be listings or short terminals more broadly impact housing. And so by opening more data and really trying to increase this transparency, that's been some of the initiatives that I've been driving forward. Very cool. Well, congratulations. It sounds like an awesome job. I do want to get into all the research you're doing, but let's just start by having to set the stage a little bit with the broader housing market, because I think that will help frame the rest of the conversation here for our audience. Yeah, the housing market is basically facing the challenge that it has after coming down from a pandemic high, right? So, had a sugar rush, low rates, all of that. Everyone knows the context now that mortgage rates are up significantly. They're past 7%. down a little bit now the lowest in six months today, which is great news. But overall, the housing market is in a tough spot still. Sales are low. Prices are growing, though, and they continue to

Starting point is 00:03:10 appreciate at a robust pace. And overall, the housing market is basically poised for stability and a little bit of improvement looking forward. But it's still, you know, it didn't crash, though. So if we look back to a year ago, when we saw rates were high, everyone, thought, not everyone, but a lot of people were raising alarm saying home prices are elevated, they're going to crash, right? Sales are going to tank and we're going to enter into a recession. And yes, the housing market was hurt hard, but the reality is things have stabilized. Sellers reacted by moving off onto the sidelines. Buyers are sort of waiting for an opportune moment. But there's still a lot of demographic factors and long-term trends that create healthy demand,

Starting point is 00:03:57 stabilizing the market, the housing market basically. Yeah, we did not see a crash. There are certainly some corrections going on regionally throughout the country. But I'm curious what you think we'll see for the second half of the year, because from where I'm sitting, inventories up like 23%-ish year over year. And I'm just wondering if you think things will flatten out. Because in my mind, that might create better buying conditions if there's a little bit less competition, more optionality for investors, potential hosts. That's true. There are homes that are starting to sit a little bit longer on the market.

Starting point is 00:04:32 They're having to drop their price. That's a good opportunity for some buyers that are saying, hey, I've been waiting for rates to fall. They're starting to come down a little bit. Been waiting for prices to come down. There are some price cuts. So there are some opportunities for buyers to jump back in. At the same time, sellers are in the same boat.

Starting point is 00:04:48 Most sellers are also a buyer. And they're moving up. And I'm myself, I'm a homeowner, have a low rate. I'm sort of, you know, considering moving up, but I'm waiting for there to be better options, lower prices, a little bit more favorable rates. And so I myself might decide to jump at that and then sell my property. So it's sort of this great game of musical chairs, perfect analogy for the housing market, that once there's enough favorable conditions, and prior to, you know, this month,

Starting point is 00:05:17 it was coming a lot from new construction, creating new home options. but that coupled with, you know, a little bit of homes that are dropping their prices and sitting longer, that will get more sellers to list to get up out of their chair to move to another one. And that can just create a more virtuous cycle of a little bit of improvement in housing. Now, it's still sort of constrained by affordability concerns. Prices are high, rates are high, mortgage payments are still very elevated. But it's a little bit of improvement to, you know, created circumstances where things aren't worsening.

Starting point is 00:05:49 And prices continue to grow, sales start to improve a little bit. And how do these adverse or at least complex market conditions impact short-term rentals and specifically what do you see here at Airbnb? Right. That's a great question. There are a lot of ways that the macroeconomics of the housing market impacts the short-term rental market. And one example is that when the pandemic was going and rates were falling and a lot of people were moving around migrating, we also.

Starting point is 00:06:19 saw some of the biggest increases in home equity ever. So homeowners gained about a 50% increase in equity during the pandemic. There was about $20 trillion of equity in the U.S. housing market. That's increased to over $30 million now. And this is just a massive handout of wealth to homeowners. Some of those homeowners were able to take advantage of that, refinance, and use some of that equity or sell to buy additional properties. Some of them got into real estate investing. during the pandemic, but others just bought a vacation home. You know, they have enough wealth to buy a second home. And we saw a big boom in second home purchases during the pandemic. Part of that was spurred on by a great real estate market with home price appreciation.

Starting point is 00:07:04 And these second homes, a lot of people were able to list them for rent on Airbnb or other providers. So that's one way in which the housing market impacted. Now reverse course, right? We saw mortgage rates, people are no longer buying second homes. Mortgage rates are too high. There were even some additional fees introduced for second homes. And so that limited people going out and acquiring a second home to vacation in and then maybe rent out occasionally as well. But also it really limited some of the opportunities for real estate investing for the same reason. Now, you know, there were still opportunities. There were a lot of homes that dropped their price, especially in markets that cooled.

Starting point is 00:07:42 And as the market is sort of pulling out of the bottom and we see a little bit of improvement in rates, people who have been maybe saving up over the last year trying to wade out these high rates, they're also on the sidelines. Maybe it's for real estate investing, but also even just people who wanted to get a bigger home, add on to their home that maybe they could even rent out, build an ADU as zoning laws have been changing to allow for more housing activity. That also shows up in some of the short-term rental market opportunities as well. So the profitability also of the short-term rental market can impact the real estate market.

Starting point is 00:08:17 So if it's less advantageous to go and buy a second home in a vacation area and rent it out because there's maybe a lot of listings, that also means that you might not see as much real estate activity in these vacation markets. So it does kind of go both ways. They interact in a lot of interesting ways that way. But yes, so that's some of the trends. That's super interesting. I hadn't really thought about how profitability might slow down transaction volume in. in a short-term rental market because it's not just people buying second homes to your point, but it's also investors who are trying to get into those markets as well.

Starting point is 00:08:56 Okay, we're going to take a short break, but on the other side, Taylor and I get into how short-term rental supply relates to the overall economy and the long-term impacts of short-term rental bans. Stay with us. We all joke that rentals are passive, but if you're spending nights matching receipts or guessing what a property earned last month, that's not passive at all. Lain fixes that part of landlording, the financial chaos. Their banking and AI bookkeeping system automatically tags every transaction, updates cash flow insights in real time, and builds the reports you need for tax season.

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Starting point is 00:12:13 fundamentals, pairing tax efficiency with disciplined operators and a long-term approach. This isn't about chasing hype or guessing market timing. It's about building durable, tax-aware wealth over time. Learn more at biggerpockets.com slash bam. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the show and my conversation with Taylor Mark. Given that in the broader market, we've seen transaction volume really come down since pandemic highs. It's down about 50%. It's still, I think, 25, 30% below. pandemic levels. Are you seeing that reflected in the amount of supply of Airbnb listings and hosts? Like, is it slowed down how many new hosts are coming onto the platform?

Starting point is 00:13:01 That's a great question because it really contrasts what I just said about the ways that the housing market and the short-term rental market interact. And while, you know, on the margins, looking at activity month-to-month of the real estate market and short-term rental, you know, new hosts coming on. Those do relate quite a bit. At the same time, a lot of what's going on in the short-term rental industry has nothing to do with the real estate market. It's a lot driven by the eclipses going on, and people want to list their home for rent. There's Taylor Swift concerts going around. There are Paris Olympics, and it's also a whole more global industry with more complex environments in every country. And so you have a lot of listing activity of hosts deciding

Starting point is 00:13:45 to rent their home out maybe while they travel or share a room or even someone who has a second home that maybe they were working remote in during the pandemic that now they don't go to as often and now they're listing that out and that activity is just not related as much to mortgage rates and fluctuations and price appreciation. I'm curious, you know, a lot has been made about the increase in short-term rental supply. Yeah, just in general. And And, you know, there's talk that there's oversaturation in the market, at least among investors that I talk to. Do you see that? Like, is revenue stable for most hosts or are people really competing against a lot more hosts these days?

Starting point is 00:14:30 You know, Airbnb is so global that, like, there's always these little markets that have different fluctuations. Sure. So it's hard to speak to, you know, anything being indicative. But AirDNA does publish data for the whole U.S. at least. And they did cite that in 2023, so looking last year, there was actually a decline in the nightly rate that hosts are getting. And part of that was due to there was a big increase in supply in 2022, 2023. But ADR, the average daily rate for this year is actually, according to AirDNA for the U.S., expected to increase. So that may have been limited.

Starting point is 00:15:11 And of course, there's variation. you might have some markets, some cities where you see bigger drops or, you know, smaller increases or whatever else it might be. But what's also always important is when you're looking at the market-wide averages, it doesn't always reflect, you know, what the host experience was. So a host might still have a decent increase because, you know, they were able to increase occupancy or, you know, but sometimes looking at like new hosts of someone saying, oh, sure, I'll rent out my home. Let's see if I, you know, get any offers, that new supply can also alter what the ADR is for a city, can also alter occupancy. I think one of the misunderstandings is that every host is not trying to

Starting point is 00:15:56 maximize occupancy. Like I myself, I listed my home for rent when we were traveling, and I'm not trying to get it booked every single night that it's available. I might just say, hey, if the price is right, I'll rent out my home. So I might increase that price I'm willing. wanting in sacrifice of occupancy. And that's the hard part with short-term rentals is we don't know exactly what every host is trying to do. And if they were all trying to, you know, maximize profits, you might see a little bit different trends, but a lot of people are just sharing their home. And that kind of shows up in the data a lot, too, that is hard to separate out. That's so true. I never really thought about that. Your job must be very difficult because of

Starting point is 00:16:37 that because for my perspective and those of our audience in bigger pockets, usually they're professional investors. You know, they're looking to do this full time and they are trying to maximize revenue, but there are tons of people who do this part-time or just opportunistically. And so I would imagine, yeah, pulling out the data is challenging. For our audience of people who are trying to maximize revenue, do you have any data or on trends or just tips that could help maximize? revenue? Absolutely. So we are getting into this experience economy age, right, where increasingly

Starting point is 00:17:15 people are paying for experiences. So it used to be where, you know, most of people are spending money on goods. Then we had the service economy in the U.S. really expand over decades and people started to spend more on service. So you go to a restaurant to get the service rather than just, you know, pick up goods at a grocery store. Over the last 10, 15 years, Recently, people have been shifting their spending patterns to spend money on experiences. That still might be a restaurant, but you're no longer going to a restaurant like a diner just to get the food served to you and made for you. You're also going for the experience. Maybe it's to throw peanut shells on the floor or to, you know, have it be a themed restaurant like a rainforest cafe.

Starting point is 00:17:56 So people are paying for experiences. And that's also true when people travel. Increasingly, people are wanting to stay in a place that's unique, that offers a good experience. maybe that's coupled with an experience, like a Taylor Swift concert or an eclipse, as we mentioned, but especially what hosts are doing that they're finding success in increasing occupancy or even the amount they can charge is making their listing stand out as a unique experience for a guest. So it's not just a cookie cutter, you know, room, but it's actually offering something different. And maybe, you know, that's how they design it. Maybe it's some of the experiences they offer or

Starting point is 00:18:35 recommendations that they offer, such as a local tour or something. But those are things that hosts are doing in order to really improve and stand out compared to the competition, especially when there is a lot of supply that might be necessary to kind of, you know, figure out if you can't increase your price, you can also increase your bookings. What you're saying makes a lot of sense. And it sort of jives with what we hear from investors in the industry. And it got me thinking, because I only have one short-term rental, but it's got this vacant garage. And I was thinking about turning it into a golf simulator.

Starting point is 00:19:08 Yeah. Because people love those. Just trying to find ways to stand out. Exactly. And demonstrate, you know, that there's something unique about my property versus all the other hosts out there. That's fantastic. Yeah. And sometimes that's, you know, a simple amenity you could add.

Starting point is 00:19:23 Sometimes it's just the way you design your place. And, you know, this is a beautiful scene. And I just want to hang out here, you know. And that also can be a part of it as well. Great. Well, I do want to switch gears a little bit here, Taylor. Airbnb has published some really interesting research and data about the role that short-term rentals play in the broader economy and the housing market. So can you share with us some of the research that you've been doing about how short-term rentals impact local economies?

Starting point is 00:19:53 Yeah. So every time someone stays in an Airbnb, they're often not just paying money to the hosts. And obviously that host can take that earnings, those earnings, and do a lot with it. They can spend it on their mortgage, which is the most number one way that hosts are used in their money is to pay for housing costs. In fact, 40% of hosts reported that the amount of money that they earn from Airbnb is a significant source of their housing. Being able to afford housing where they are, which is great. But they also spend money on renovating their place. Sometimes they add additional real estate space. Sometimes, you know, they just improve the quality of their unit.

Starting point is 00:20:35 But then those guests also, the remaining amount, they spend it on local restaurants. They spend it on shopping, entertainment. And so what we can do is look at all of this activity that guests are spending. How often are they staying there? How much are they spending per night? And when we look at all of that, we see that overall in the U.S., guests who stay with an Airbnb, contribute about $85 billion to the U.S. economy. That creates tens of thousands of jobs.

Starting point is 00:21:05 And, you know, the massive amount of benefits that this also brings for tax revenue is just really amazing that a lot of this stays with the local hosts and stays with the local businesses. Because Airbnbs are usually dispersed much further from the city center where you might have a lot more chain businesses or restaurants, corporate units versus, you know, hotels that are traditionally concentrated downtown. Airbnb's are more dispersed towards outlined neighborhoods or even rural areas supporting those local economies in a different, more unique way.

Starting point is 00:21:38 And that economic impact also shows up in the tax revenue that these cities can then invest into local goods and services. Wow, that's great to hear. I had no idea about that. and I imagine that was pretty difficult to calculate and figure out. I'm curious, would the impact be similar if people were just traveling and staying at a hotel? So not exactly. And I already mentioned that people, so New York City, for an example, more than 80% of hotels in New York City are concentrated in Manhattan.

Starting point is 00:22:11 In fact, a lot of them are in midtown. And if you look at where short-term rentals were, you know, a couple years ago, especially, the majority were. actually not in Manhattan. The majority were in the outer boroughs and especially in more suburban areas. And when guests travel to these areas, they tend to support these local businesses. And that has a larger impact on jobs. And so the guest spending that comes from staying in Airbnb actually has larger impacts than when you're staying at a hotel. And at the same time, you know, now we're in New York City. We don't have as many short-term rentals. now because of the recent loss.

Starting point is 00:22:53 And because of that, that's pushed up hotel prices. And so fewer guests also even travel to the city in general. So the economic impacts are partly, you know, only available because of the increase of short-term rentals that helped relax some of the accommodation prices. And that brought in more tourist activity. So that's also an important factor of like, you know, some of that would be reabsorbed by hotels, but a lot of it also wouldn't. And it would also show up in different places.

Starting point is 00:23:22 That's super interesting that it sort of grows the overall pie, right? Because the competition forces hotels to compete. And they do that with price. And we're sitting in New York City right now and staying in a hotel. I can speak to the fact that they're extremely expensive here in New York. And just speaking to my own experience that's limited, but with short-term rentals, is that where I bought one, I bought one where there's very few homes. hotels. It's in a ski town in Colorado. You think there's a lot of hotels. There's actually

Starting point is 00:23:53 not very many. And like you said, some people want to stay in a rural area. They're in the mountains. They want to have that experience of being up in the woods, not necessarily in town or on the slopes. And so it allows people to have a different type of experience. And it also brings, I would think, tax revenue to this, the town I invest in is like a small little hamlet near the local town. It's probably helping generate tax revenue. for a municipality that otherwise wouldn't get that. Absolutely. And just speaking from personal experience,

Starting point is 00:24:26 I have three boys. When we travel, we don't fit into a hotel room anymore. And so oftentimes short-term rentals are really a key opportunity for us to go to a place and spend money in those local areas. And so not having that accommodation option also oftentimes means we just don't go there. We go somewhere else instead where we contribute to the local. economy. And so that's also what short-term rental supply offers in these ski towns, too, is really a

Starting point is 00:24:55 huge increase in economic activity that didn't happen when most of those homes were someone's second vacation home sitting empty. So Airbnb is making use of a lot of what would otherwise be vacant units. There are nearly 5 million vacant second homes in the U.S. according to the census, which is really only about 3.2% of the U.S. housing stock. And if I were to ask you, do you think that number has grown over the last 15 years from 2007 before Airbnb existed? You know, what do you think? I would think that the number has declined because people are more likely to list on platforms like Airbnb. Well, here's the thing. When someone's listing their home as a short-term rental, it shows up in this stock of vacant second homes.

Starting point is 00:25:46 And there's actually fewer, you're right, there are fewer second homes and vacation rentals than there were before Airbnb existed. So Airbnb has not caused this massive acquisition of properties to be someone's second home or vacation rental. Instead, there was a large stock, about 5 million vacant homes that were used for this purpose. There's another 10 million that's vacant for other reasons.

Starting point is 00:26:10 Maybe it's listed for rentals. on the market or for sale. But these vacant second homes are now being utilized by Airbnb. And really, for every Airbnb that's regularly rented out on the market in a place like Colorado, it's about 16 times that are actually just sitting empty as someone's second home, that maybe they stay in for a month when they go skiing and then they sit empty. And so, you know, the one myth is that these properties would otherwise just be on the market. The reality is most of them would actually otherwise just be empty as someone's second home, which they were previously, if we look back at the data before the rise of the short-term rail industry grew.

Starting point is 00:26:51 That's so interesting because there is this narrative that Airbnb or short-term rentals in general, not specifically Airbnb, you know, has contributed in some way to the affordability issues that are going on in the housing market. But it sounds like you believe that, or the data shows that, these homes wouldn't be listed as a long-term rental, for example, if they weren't listed as a short-term rental. They would just be sitting vacant perhaps. That's exactly right. And I think that's one of the biggest gaps in understanding that the reason I joined Airbnb is to lead off our housing research program to really better understand what is the supply. How many of our homes are actually just someone sharing a room, someone sharing their primary residence when they travel, like I myself have.

Starting point is 00:27:41 done, or is it someone who has acquired property to rent it out? And when we work to understand that, it also helps set up how we can better understand any housing impact, how intersects with the local housing market. And as places have, you know, looks to restrict short-term rentals and we see people no longer able to list their home, the question is, what happens to those homes? Do they show up on the rental market? So New York City is just the best example of this because it has recently enacted almost a year ago now, one of the most strict regulations for short-term rentals in nearly the world. And as such, we have tens of thousands of fewer properties are actively being used as short-term rentals. There's about 40,000 homes in the New York City

Starting point is 00:28:31 rental market available for rent in a given month. Have we seen any increase in that number as a result of unlocking short-term rentals? No, it's actually declined when we look at the data from Street Easy on available rental inventory. There's fewer homes available for rent now than there was before the law was enacted. And a lot of hosts are just, they use their home for other reasons. They might have family stay in it a few months of the year. And so now that they can't use it as short-term rental, it sits empty when their family's not in it.

Starting point is 00:29:00 Or when we look at how many listings are actually earning more money than they could on the long-term rental market? In New York City, most of these listings were in neighborhoods where more than 90s, were in neighborhoods where they could have earned more listing it for the long-term rent than they did earn as a short-term rental. And that just speaks to there are other reasons other than just simply trying to maximize profits and not putting it on the long-term rental market that they are using it as a short-term rental. And so I think that's also trying to understand, you know, when these listings aren't being used as short-term rentals, whether it's a renter renting out their home,

Starting point is 00:29:36 a homeowner who's renting out their home or an investor or a second homeowner, you know, what happens the supply, it's not always the case that it's one for one just going to go to the long-term rental market. Some might list it for sale, some might just let it sit empty and use it for other purposes too. And this seems to be backed up by third-party research, not just the research you're doing here at Airbnb. I think I talked about it in a recent episode, but I think there was a, from Harvard, there was a study recently about the impact on rent prices due to the short-term rental ban, and I forget the exact details, but I remember that it was pretty negligible, right? And the places where there even was a decline in rent or positive trend,

Starting point is 00:30:21 it was mostly in affluent areas anyway, so it wasn't necessarily even helping the folks that the ban was intended to help. That's exactly right. A lot of the units also can be at the high ends that maybe get listed for sale. So if, you know, looking at affordable housing needs, it's not necessarily coming from short-term rental options. Okay, we're about to take one last break to hear from our sponsors, but we'll be right back with more discussions and Taylor's tips for short-term rental investors. When I bought my first rental, I thought collecting rent would be the hard part. Nope. The admin crushed me. Every night was receipts, tax forms, and checking who was late on rent.

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Starting point is 00:34:15 Let's jump back in with Taylor Marr. There are a lot of unintended consequences. So we mentioned the economic impact that these listings provide, as local jobs that is providing source of income for the host as well. But also, there's a lot of ways that if you could rent out your property on an Airbnb, you're more likely to invest in, you know, building real estate because that value is unlocked as well. And there's even a study that was done out of Los Angeles that looked at local regulations for short-term rentals. And they found that there was a 9% drop in permit activity

Starting point is 00:34:49 in places that restricted short-term rentals relative to those that didn't. And here's the thing for when you zoom into properties that, you know, are difficult to finance, but also make great rental options like accessory dwelling units, those drop 17%. And so by removing the ability, you also are overall dampening the housing construction. And there are a lot of other economic benefits that come with, you know, short-term rentals thriving in a place. But I think people, you know, might look at just one slice of the pie, not understanding all of these other ways that they impact the local market. So that's also key to understanding is, you know, what are all the other ways that it impacts? It reduces things like financial delinquencies and mortgages, because someone can,

Starting point is 00:35:36 if they're, you know, see a cut to their income, they could rent out their property and, you know, generate to cover some of those costs. And this is, you know, backed by third-party research, academic papers that have focused on this. So, you know, it's sort of like, what do we know, what do we don't know? And how can we help develop more research as to better understanding that all the ways that the short-term rental industry interacts with the broader housing market? It's super cool that you're doing all this research because it, I get it. It's sort of logically. makes sense when you're like, oh, you know, rent is super high because there are short-term rentals, or at least that's one of the contributing factors. But obviously, your research here,

Starting point is 00:36:16 and of course you work for Airbnb, but third-party data is also supporting this. And I haven't even thought about that idea of the disincentive it creates for building and how that actually in the long run might make rent prices even higher because, as you and I know from just talking about the housing market in general, like the solution to. the affordability problem long term has to be more supply. And so anything that's going to inhibit supply and builders building is probably going to be detrimental at the long run. It's exactly right.

Starting point is 00:36:48 I mean, it is undeniable that there is a housing crisis that people are struggling with rents, that people are having a hard time coming up with a down payment because prices are high. The problem is, I think there's a lot of scapegoats in the housing industry, whether that's certain investors or short-term rentals. And the thing I worry about is that cities use these scapegoats as a political win rather than doing what's necessary to unlock more housing development, whether that's zoning reform or encouraging, you know, building code reform, whatever else it could be that would allow for more housing construction. And at the end of the day, that's what makes a difference. We see that in Minneapolis.

Starting point is 00:37:27 After their zoning reform, we've seen a massive increase in multifamily permits over the last few years. And that's resulted in drop in rents. Now, it took a while, because I was back in 2017 or so, it took a while for that to really come to fruition. But we've seen it in place after place. Austin is another recent example where they made some zoning reforms in 2015. That's resulted in more housing instruction. Montana has made some big statewide reforms.

Starting point is 00:37:53 And these reforms that are unlocking more housing instruction are really what works. And meanwhile, you know, the short-term rentals can help contribute to housing affordability. they can also provide some opportunities for host to earn money to, you know, make their mortgage payments as well, to share their home. And so, you know, there's also just in our country, we've shared our homes as far back as since our founding. Even George Washington, if you go to Mount Vernon, half of Mount Vernon is just guest rooms for people that stayed there. Absolutely. And up and down the East Coast, you will find, you know, plaques that say Thomas Jefferson stayed here. And in fact, before he was inaugurated, he was staying at a boarding house in the northeast.

Starting point is 00:38:38 And all around, even Boston at one point, was about 50% boarding houses, which is equivalently short-term rentals, bed and breakfasts. But zoning in the, you know, about 100 years ago, really restricted single room occupancy and limited the potential for people to do this. And so there's just really a lot of benefits that go back as old as time to being able to open your home. home and share it with a guest. And that brings about a lot of, you know, benefits to the broader community as well. Yeah, it's a great point. And I echo your concern about short-term political maneuvering that avoids solutions that take a long time, right? Like, it's easy to say, oh, we're going to ban Airbnbs, and I'm sure constituents might, if they haven't read your research, might think that that's going to work. But then it's sort of, you know,

Starting point is 00:39:31 avoids these bigger, longer-term initiatives like the one you mentioned in Minnesota, where you actually do see rents coming down because they enable more supply. And I know that that's probably not the sexiest thing to campaign on, but, you know, the evidence and the data bears out that that's actually what needs to be happening. Right. And Airbnb wants to work with cities to help them find solutions, whether maybe there are some regulations that are needed to limit any impact on housing. There's certainly some markets where that might be needed. And Airbnb works with policymakers. They support clear, good common sense regulations. But at the same time, you know, we have a seat at the table with these local policymakers. And I was really excited to help, you know, talk about what

Starting point is 00:40:18 are things cities can do to open up the housing construction, to really help create real solutions for housing affordability. And so we start to see, you know, some successes there all around. But but there's a lot more that's needed, you know, for cities to understand what actually helps create, you know, the things that their locals need. Great. Well, Taylor, thank you so much for sharing this research with us. Before we get out of here, do you have any last tips for our audience of real estate investors, short-term rental investors? You know, I think the tips are to always be on the lookout for different events and

Starting point is 00:40:55 opportunities where we saw more than a thousand percent increase in people looking for homes along the solar eclipse path. We saw a lot of hosts list their home for the first time for the Paris Olympics. And, you know, these other events that come around, there's even, you know, natural events like animal migrations. There's creativity in terms of what to look for for opportunities. And that's increasingly, again, going back to the experience economy, it's increasingly what people are wanting. They're wanting these unique opportunities to say, you know, I traveled here, I did this one thing. And so that's something that, I think. think people can be on the lookout for. Great. Well, thank you so much, Taylor. We really appreciate

Starting point is 00:41:34 you being here. And thank you all so much for watching and listening to this episode of the Bigger Pockets Real Estate podcast. We will make sure to put Taylor's contact information in the show notes below. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you for the next episode very soon. Thank you all for listening to the Bigger Pockets Real Estate podcast. Make sure you get all our new episodes by subscribing on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Our new episodes come out. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm the host and executive producer of the show, Dave Meyer.

Starting point is 00:42:05 The show is produced by Ian K. Copywriting is by Calicoe Content. And editing is by Exodus Media. If you'd like to learn more about real estate investing or to sign up for our free newsletter, please visit www.biggerpockets.com. The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk.

Starting point is 00:42:24 So use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. And remember, past performance is not indicative of future results. Bigger Pocket's LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential, or other damages arising from a reliance on information presented in this podcast.

BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast - BiggerNews: Have the Airbnb Bans Backfired on Big Cities? w/Taylor Marr

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