An estimated 60% percent of short-term rentals are in rent-stabilized housing. That is according to a new report by WeHo by the Numbers, based in part on an analysis by Host Compliance, a new city contractor. A short-term rental is renting out all or part of a residential unit for 30 days or less.
Host Compliance gathers short-term rental listings from Airbnb and competing platforms. It counted 1,010 West Hollywood listings in March 2017. However, the actual number of properties being rented was lower, because some were listed on more than one platform. Host Compliance identified 839 unique short-term rental properties in West Hollywood.
WeHo by the Numbers also analyzed Airbnb-specific data from a website called Inside Airbnb. The number of West Hollywood listings increased after March and grew almost 40% over two years. That growth rate was lower than in most nearby communities. Santa Monica was the exception.
Host Compliance reported the number of short-term rental properties in each city neighborhood. There were about 300 each on the city’s Westside and in Center City, with fewer (235) on the Eastside. The Westside total included over 100 in West Hollywood North, about 70 in the Norma Triangle, 50 or so in both Tri-West and West Hollywood West and about 20 in the Heights above Sunset.
Three-quarters of the short-term-rental properties were whole homes — the entire house, condo, or apartment — without the host present. Fewer than half of the properties offered two or more bedrooms. Three-quarters of properties were in apartment or condo buildings. Many properties — over 40% on Airbnb — were part of a group of listings by one host.
Host Compliance estimated the number of nights per year that listings were rented. They determined that 40% of the listings across platforms had never been rented because they were new, undesirable or rentals were not seriously pursued by the host. Among those that were rented, almost half were rented out more than 90 nights a year. Over 20% were rented out more than 180 nights a year.
Half of the rentals that have been rented are believed to produce more than $10,000 a year. About one in five makes over $25,000 a year.
To find out more, see the full report, Where are the short-term rentals in West Hollywood?
What Have We Learned So Far?
Over the past two years, David Warren has researched and published 100 reports about West Hollywood. Click here for a list that offers highlights of what he has learned and shared on WeHo by the Numbers.
David, are there posts that are taking up space that you need?
There are some individuals whose posts I don’t bother to read because I’ve come to know their points of view. So do what I do. Problem solved.
I wish WEHOville would consider a two comment limit from one individual on each article.
As you would expect, A Responsible Host, I disagree with you. If there are rules that an absentee host cannot rent out an unoccupied unit, that rule should be enforced with high penalty. Every tenant in WeHo should not be excluded because of what one, or a few, MIGHT do. If anyone who assumes the authority to disallow tenants to participate in home sharing, they must also disallow the piano teachers, massage therapists, realtors and anyone else who conducts business from their rented unit. You are a homeOWNER because of your hard work, good luck, or a combination of both.… Read more »
blueeyedboy, thank you, and I agree with you a lot, except I’m a homeowner, and *also* a landlord. It might seem hypocritical, but I don’t advocate my tenant running an AirBnB out of her apartment, next to me. As far as condominiums go, I owned one for four months, and I’m not sure how many owners have to vote to approve such a thing. But ultimately it should be up to the HOA to determine if they will allow for HOSTED rentals, I believe. My concern with apartment-dwellers’ using AirBnB is that some landlords might make deals with some of… Read more »
Thank you “A Responsible Host” for saying it better than I could. I was just about to respond to “webuiltthiscity”, by merely repeating what I’ve already said, sometimes more than once. In my building there are neighbors who have guests every single day at all hours of the day and night. There are Grindr “guests” frequently who clearly have never been in the building before, and many other visitors who don’t seem to know their way around. When I lived in another building in WeHo a neighbor across the hall from me was a massage therapist who had clients at… Read more »
“webuiltthiscity,” both “blueeyedboy” and I are advocating HOSTED short-term rentals. I think you completely missed that. Read our comments again. Nobody is talking about “lifting the ban.” Altering it, to make it more sensible, to allow for HOSTED rentals. You might want to read up on current events, regarding this issue, which now has the support of the City Council, the same group of people who are lobbied by developers, which include hotel owners. This change would go against those developers interests. San Francisco, NYC, Sacramento and Santa Monica have all had the sense to allow for HOSTED short-term rentals.… Read more »
Short Term Rentals includes The Oft Written about stopping short term Corporate Rentals. BY THE NUMBERS doesn’t mean anything if cherry picking the one most disliked air bNb (or whatever) and leaving out short term corporate rentals …. say in all the brand new Apartment Blocks going up. They rent for top dollar. What’s wrong with Short Term Corporate Housing to fill all the unrented new blights on our streets. Corp Renters: Pay Higher Rent Usually are furnished (quiet quick moves in and out) The renters obviously have good high paying jobs paying for corp apts Hard Working People are… Read more »
@blueeyedboy Whoever is paying you to sell this concept to the community has hired a fighter. However, you are thinking only of money and not empathizing with the long term residents in apartment and condo buildings who know their neighbors. When a high volume of transient short term tenants show up, the long term residents become territorial and protective of their property and rightly so. Who are these short term Airbnb renters? How have they been screened? The long term renters had to do a credit check, a background check along with first and last months rent. Condo owners have… Read more »
Why can’t Airbnb be held accountable for being a facilitator in the violation of city codes/condo CC&R’s… seems like a criminal conspiracy to me.
SaveWeho and blueeyedboy, as someone who lives across the border in Los Angeles, and who has rented his room out to over 250 guests (in a place I own, and live in), I can tell you that what “SaveWeho” is fearful of is complete nonsense, from my experience. Once again, over 250 guests. And they have all been kind, courteous, polite and respectful. I hear more noise coming from my permanent neighbors and their guests than from anyone I’ve ever hosted. What non-hosts don’t understand is that for most people, there is a difference in their behavior when they enter… Read more »
Dipsao.zeteztetes: You hit the nail squarely and that should be the policy period!
Under no circumstances should any kind of subletting or short-term rentals be allowed in rent-stabilized housing. Neither landlords nor tenants should be getting away with this, which is making the housing crisis worse. This is why it took us so long to find another rent-stabilized apartment after being evicted from the last one under the dreaded Ellis Act. There were many units being used as either illegal short-term rentals by landlords or illegal sublets by absentee tenants who were keeping the apartments to make hundreds of dollars a month. This prevents rent-stabilized units that have actually been vacated by the… Read more »