A very savvy programmer named Murray Cox, who is also a photographer living in Bed-Stuy, has managed to write a bunch of code that extracts every publicly available bit of information about Airbnb rental listings across New York City. On his site, Inside Airbnb, the data is presented in handy map form, which allows New Yorkers to see a host of information about how the embattled short-term rental site affects their neighborhoods.
For example, how many of the listings in your neighborhood are for an entire home (red) versus a room in an apartment (green)? How many are controlled by the same host? (Multiple listings are a telltale sign of sketchiness... let's hope those folks get caught.) Cox also estimates how much individual hosts are making from renting to tourists in different neighborhoods as compared with how much it costs to sign a regular lease in those areas. Cox calls it intel "Airbnb doesn't want you to see"; as he told Gothamist, "Inside Airbnb provides filters and key metrics so you can see how Airbnb is being used to compete with the residential housing market."
It's particularly illuminating to look at gentrified and gentrifying neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Crown Heights, the East Village, and Tribeca for some insights. Look how few Airbnb options Long Island City has by comparison. Go ahead and explore.
· Inside Airbnb [official]
· New Map Reveals How Airbnb Has Transformed Your Neighborhood [Gothamist]
· All Airbnb coverage [Curbed]
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