The number of New Yorkers registered as short-term rental hosts surpassed 3,500 for the first time since the city began enforcing a law requiring hosts to register their space with the city before advertising on platforms such as Airbnb or VRBO, according to newly released city data.
The city also tracked who registered as short-term rental hosts and found that the majority of New Yorkers, around 76%, renting out extra space in their units were homeowners, with about 68% renting out one- and two-family dwellings largely located in the outer boroughs, especially Brooklyn.
Despite local laws on the books that restricted short-term rentals in the city since the late 1960s, the city estimated that by 2018 there had been around 18,000 illegal short-term rentals listed on online platforms, raising concerns about the availability of permanent housing and rising rent costs. Under NYC law, permanent occupants may only rent additional space in their dwelling or unit for less than 30 days to a maximum of two guests, and only if the legal occupant is present in the home for the entire stay.
In 2022, the NYC Council passed Local Law 18 requiring all New Yorkers who wanted to rent extra space in their home or apartments to register with the city’s Office of Special Enforcement. Then, in September 2023, the city began working with online booking companies such as Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com and more to ensure they properly verified each listing through the city’s registration system.
Executive Director of the Office of Special Enforcement Christian Klossner said in a statement announcing the new data that “Local Law 18 is achieving what it set out to do: prevent illegal activity while allowing hosts to know for sure what they allowed to do, ensure online companies can verify the legal status of the transactions they facilitate, and reduce the size of the illegal short-term rental problem to one that can be handled with direct enforcement.”
“Local Law 18 is not a ban; it simply prevents rentals that were already illegal,” Klossner added.
The data also tracked the reasons applicants were denied registration. In fiscal year 2026 from July 2025 to June 2026, the city denied 65 applications to host short-term rentals in rent-regulated units. In the three years since the registration law was enacted, 618 rent-regulated units were denied registration as short-term rentals.
Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg said in a statement that this type of oversight kept housing available for New Yorkers who need affordable rent.
“The Office of Special Enforcement’s work has established a clear regulatory system that allows new short-term rental registrations where legal, while keeping important housing opportunities on the market for New Yorkers, in line with local law,” Bozorg said. “My thanks to OSE and other City partners for their guidance and support for New York homeowners, and their clear data updates in these new materials.”
But some New Yorkers and lawmakers want the city to ease its restrictions on short-term rentals. Council Member Mercedes Narcisse (D-Brooklyn) sponsored Intro 879, which aims to allow short-term rentals to increase the maximum number of guests at a time and remove the restriction requiring hosts to be present while guests are renting.
Supporters of easing the restrictions say that tight regulations hurt homeowners who can use the additional income in the increasingly expensive city. But affordable housing advocates argue that easing restrictions is a slippery slope that could leave the market vulnerable to real estate speculators and so-called “professional hosts” that use what should be permanent housing for New Yorkers to operate a de facto network of hotels.
The Pratt Center for Community Development released in July a short-term rental policy brief that argued for tighter restrictions on mid-term rentals of longer than 30 days, which are left out of the current registration laws. The report stated that the mid-term market has shown growth among professional hosts and investors.