Where are the short-term rentals in West Hollywood?

|

It’s been a year since our last report on short-term rentals in West Hollywood. We now have fresh data from a new City contractor (Host Compliance) and from our original source (Inside Airbnb).

Number of short-term rental properties

Host Compliance gathers short-term-rental listings from Airbnb and competing platforms. They counted 1,010 West Hollywood listings in March 2017. Most of them (989) were “active” in the sense that a review was posted or the booking calendar was updated in the prior year.

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.

839 short-term rental properties in March 2017

We checked to see if the numbers from Host Compliance were consistent those from Inside Airbnb. Host Compliance counted 839 short-term rentals across platforms on or before March 13. Inside Airbnb’s data has 639 Airbnb listings as of March 2, excluding those requiring stays longer than 30 days. The two numbers seem roughly consistent. They imply a 75% market share for Airbnb in West Hollywood, not far off from the one estimate we’ve seen of their market share in Los Angeles.

Growth in short-term rentals

Over a two-year period, Airbnb’s short-term rental listings grew almost 40% in West Hollywood. We don’t have numbers that include the other listing platforms. Twice as many whole-home listings were added as partial-home listings, though the growth rates were similar on a percentage basis.

West Hollywood’s growth rate was lower over the two-year period than in most nearby communities. Santa Monica was the exception, presumably because of their investment in enforcement. Despite the slower growth, West Hollywood still has more listings than Culver City, Burbank, Beverly Hills, and Los Angeles’ Fairfax and Beverly Grove neighborhoods.

Which neighborhoods

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.

The map below from Inside Airbnb shows the general vicinity — not exact location — of Airbnb listings in West Hollywood. The red dots are whole-home listings.

Which kinds of units

Three-quarters of the short-term-rental properties were whole homes — the entire house, condo, or apartment — without the host present. A little less than half of the properties offered two or more bedrooms.

Three-quarters of properties were in apartment or condo buildings. Moreover, 60% of West Hollywood’s short-term rentals were in rent-stabilized units.

Many West Hollywood short-term-rental properties — over 40% on Airbnb — are part of a portfolio of listings by one host.

How much of the year

Host Compliance estimated the number of nights per year that listings were rented. They said 40% of the listings across platforms had never been rented, because they were new, undesirable, or not seriously pursued by the host. Their estimates suggest that almost half of the listings that were rented were rented out more than 90 nights a year. Over 20% were rented out more than 180 nights a year.

The Airbnb-only data from Inside Airbnb has a lower never-rented rate of about 20% for West Hollywood listings. They estimate that the average listing in the city is rented out 100 nights a year.

How much money

According to Host Compliance, two-thirds of the listings cost over $100 a night. A quarter of them are more than $200 a night and dozens of them charge over $400 a night.

Of the rentals that have been rented, half are believed to produce more than $10,000 a year. About one in five makes over $25,000 a year.

The City staff calculated the potential revenue from a unit as a short-term rental versus a rent-stabilized or market-rate long-term residential rental. Their chart below illustrates the economic incentive for short-term rentals in West Hollywood. The columns on the right are revenues from renting short-term. They’re bigger than the long-term rental options on the left and in the middle.