This is how regulation affects Airbnb in San Francisco, report says
A wave of regulations have forced home-sharing sites to eject certain types of rentals across all platforms. Now a new report from the San Francisco Chronicle shows that when San Francisco cracked down on short-term rentals, FlipKey and Expedia-owned HomeAway took the biggest hits.
Using data from HostingCompliance, the Chronicle found that Airbnb’s listings in San Francisco dropped from 8,740 in August, right before the new rules kicked in, to 4,191 in January. Over the same time frame, FlipKey’s listings fell to 78 from 401, while HomeAway’s listings more than halved to 509. The purge included homes that had never been booked and hosts that didn’t want to go through the process of renting their homes.
Both HomeAway and FlipKey were more affected by the new laws because they primarily host second homes and vacation rentals. In order to rent on alternative accommodation platforms, residents must register to be a host with the city, according to the Office of Short Term Rentals. San Francisco only allows people who actually live in their home to rent out rooms short-term. Whole home rentals are restricted to 90 nights per year. Second home owners can only rent out their homes for a month or more at a time—making their properties available to the wider rental market.
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