The tourist rental of Airbnb has always worried rulers and neighbors because it gets much more economic return than a traditional rental. If I can get €4,000 for a flat by renting on weekends, why only earn €1,000 a month with a family? This idea is killing New York.

Since Airbnb entered the scene in 2008, it has been feared that the short-term rental company would deplete the housing stock by absorbing the available rooms, causing prices to rise in cities with large populations, such as Madrid, Barcelona or Nueva York.

The absolute number of apartments and houses available on the website peaked before the pandemic and has since recededaccording to Inside Airbnb and AirDNA.

And, if this should be good news for citizens looking to move house, the reality is different: there are so few apartments available that Airbnbs make up the majority of available rentals in cities.

The traditional rental home inventory in all New York neighborhoods it has been hovering below 10,000 units: in April, the figure was just 7,669.

Which is several thousand less than the number of Airbnb apartment and entire house rentals available in New York City right now: 20,397according to Inside Airbnba third-party website that tracks short-term rentals.

Airbnb does not publish reservation databut its representatives have confirmed that its inventory of houses in New York City has decreased since the start of the pandemic.

The problem is that this assessment is a bit misleading: Airbnb compares its inventory to the total number of rental units in New York, not just those available, which in 2017 were 2.18 million.

The company, for its part, has always vehemently denied that it plays any role in the housing shortage.insisting that it provides income that helps people stay in expensive cities they might otherwise have to leave.

The authorities have always warned that The only thing this type of tourist rental does is alienate the citizen from the neighborhood and the cityexpelling it to the outskirts in favor of tourists, who bring quick money, but do not allow a city to grow normally and with stability.