- New York City’s Office of Special Enforcement counted 3,500 registered legal short-term rental hosts as of June 2026, compared with roughly 23,000 listings active before booking platforms began complying with Local Law 18 in 2023.
- More than three-quarters of registered hosts are homeowners rather than renters, and one- and two-family homes make up over two-thirds of legally registered units.
- The city has denied 65 applications tied to rent-regulated units and says 618 affordable units have been protected through Local Law 18.
New York City’s short-term rental market remains dramatically smaller three years after booking platforms began complying with Local Law 18. The city’s Office of Special Enforcement reported that 3,500 hosts had registered legal short-term rentals as of June 2026, according to The Real Deal, compared with roughly 23,000 listings active on platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo before enforcement began in 2023. City officials say many of those earlier listings were rentals that were already illegal under existing short-term rental rules.
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How It Started
City lawmakers framed Local Law 18 as a tool to fight rising rents. They also wanted to keep units on the long-term market instead of nightly rental platforms.
The law requires short-term rental hosts to register with the city and prohibits booking platforms from processing transactions for unregistered rentals. New York City’s restrictions on unhosted rentals of fewer than 30 days predate Local Law 18.
The rules also bar most rent-regulated units from the program.
Airbnb has repeatedly tried to roll back the restrictions. Its latest effort sought to suspend them during the World Cup.
Council Speaker Julie Menin rejected that proposal. She argued that even a temporary rollback could undermine housing stability for renters.
Earlier efforts to loosen the law also faced strong opposition. The hotel industry, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and tenant advocates all fought to keep the restrictions intact.
The Details
Homeowners make up more than three-quarters of newly registered hosts. Renters account for less than a quarter.
One- and two-family homes represent more than two-thirds of legally registered units. That mix differs sharply from the pre-2023 short-term rental market.
Before platform enforcement began in 2023, multi-unit apartment buildings made up a much larger share of short-term rental listings.
The city said it denied 65 applications from owners seeking to use rent-regulated units as short-term rentals. Such rentals are prohibited under the city’s short-term rental rules.
Those denials brought the total number of affordable units shielded from conversion to 618, according to the city.
Many other applicants failed to prove they permanently occupied the units in question. Meanwhile, the city issued 60% of violations in buildings with three or more units.
That segment represents a significant focus of the city’s short-term rental enforcement.
Zooming Out
The sharp decline from the pre-2023 number of listings to today’s registered host count suggests that enforcement of Local Law 18 has done more than temporarily suppress listings. It appears to have reshaped the short-term rental market by compelling booking platforms to remove listings that did not meet the city’s requirements.
Even Airbnb’s Manhattan office purchase earlier this year points to the company’s long-term commitment to New York.
The purchase also shows that Airbnb still sees value in the city despite the crackdown on its core listings business.
Why It Matters
For multifamily owners and developers, the durability of the city’s short-term rental restrictions matters more than their headline intent.
With short-term rental conversions largely off the table, smaller residential building owners have less incentive to hold units outside the traditional rental market.
City officials point to that dynamic as evidence that the restrictions are working as intended.
The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council represents the city’s hotel workforce. The group has consistently framed any rollback as a direct threat to union jobs.
That position gives the restrictions’ defenders political support beyond the tenant advocacy groups that have pushed to keep them in place.
What’s Next
Three years after booking platforms began complying with Local Law 18, the restrictions remain largely intact. Expect continued sparring between Airbnb, the hotel industry and City Hall over future carve-outs.
Future registration data from the Office of Special Enforcement will provide another look at the size and makeup of the city’s legal short-term rental market.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Local Law 18 established New York City’s restrictions on unhosted rentals of fewer than 30 days and referred to the 2026 World Cup as an upcoming event. The article also incorrectly characterized the comparison between registered hosts and pre-2023 listings as a compliance rate. The article has been updated to clarify that the city’s short-term rental restrictions predate Local Law 18 and that booking platforms began complying with the law in 2023.
