New York City Local Law 18 — Short-Term Rental Registration: Listings Down Over 90%, Rents Not Clearly Lower

Local Law 18 of 2022, enforced from September 2023, requires hosts to register with the city's Office of Special Enforcement and, for stays under 30 days, to be present in the home with at most two guests, effectively ending most whole-unit short-term rentals. Platforms may only process bookings for registered hosts.
Outcome: reporting indicates listings fell by more than 90%, leaving about 3,000 legal short-term rentals. Housing-market indicators show limited affordability gains: citywide rents rose after the law, and hotel nightly rates reached record levels, with reports of displaced demand to hotels. Academic work on hosting costs finds costs rose sharply at enforcement and stabilised above pre-enforcement averages.
Caveats: no rigorous causal evaluation of rents was identified; rents are driven by wider supply shortages; some commentators and industry parties contest interpretation. The case is included as a cautionary example showing strong compliance but unproven housing benefit.

Read the full analysis: https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstreams/d7aa97a9-d9f3-4896-b956-390f67c1cee0/download