There's no doubt that AirBnB has had a significant impact on tourism in San Francisco, allowing a bevy of young, corporate-hotel-eschewing tourists to "borrow" the apartments of actual San Franciscans and live life like a resident, in a real neighborhood, for a few days. The boom in the short-term-rental economy, despite it being technically still illegal in San Francisco, is proof enough for the demand for these kinds of rentals, and the willingness of those to rent their apartments to strangers to make a little extra cash.
In some cases, it actually amounts to a lot of extra cash. And at least 5,000 city residents are currently cashing in, with a few of those being a little greedier and buying up property for the sole purpose of becoming small-time hotel operators. According to figures released in a big article package about AirBnB's impacts in the Chronicle, using date extracted by the web data firm Connotate, there are currently about 160 properties that are for rent full time, possibly including those mentioned in that lawsuit from the City Attorney against those two landlords who used the Ellis Act to flip units into luxury short-term rentals though those have likely been purged from the system because of those reported abuses.
Below, a quick rundown of figures cited both by the Chron, by AirBnb, and by this earlier piece about AirBnB hosts in New York.
- The year AirBnB was founded: 2008
- The number of homes, apartments, and rooms available on AirBnB in San Francisco as of this data mining: 4,798
- The number of rentals available according to the City Attorney in April: 6,200
- The number of rentals available in 2012: 1,800
- Approximate number of S.F. residences that appear to be full-time vacation rentals: 160
- Percent of AirBnB hosts in S.F. who say they use the rental income to help pay their rent or mortgage: 56
- Number of "hosts" who are controlling multiple properties: 513
- Number of properties managed by S.F.'s single largest AirBnB property management service, AirEnvy: 59
- Number of actual hotels advertising rooms on AirBnB: 3
- Average nightly price for a full home or apartment: $226
- Average nightly price for a room or apartment in the Mission: $167
- Average nightly price for a room or apartment in Russian Hill: $308
- Most expensive AirBnB listing in S.F., for a Pacific Heights mansion once owned by former Mayor Joseph Alioto: $6,000/night, $7,000 on weekends
- Average length of stay for regular hotel guests in S.F.: 3.5 days
- Average length of stay for AirBnB guests: 5.5 days
- Number of times the word "Victorian" appears in a listing description: 326
- Number of times the word "modern" appears: 283
- Percent of AirBnB listings that have 4.5- or 5-star ratings: 90
- Percent turnover in AirBnB listings in its biggest markets between November and May: 33
- Percent of San Francisco voters polled who say they support legalizing short-term rentals: 68
- Percent of rental income that AirBnB hosts would need to start paying as hotel tax under a new ordinance proposed in April: 14
- Average amount of annual AirBnB revenue made by each of the top 40 hosts in New York City in the last several years: $133,000
- Potential annual revenue to be made by a Russian Hill host renting their apartment 3 nights a week at $300 per night: $46,800
- Potential annual revenue being made by host Kepa Askenasy, profiled in the Chron piece, who rents four separate suites in her home for $190 per night, if they're each filled three nights a week: $118,650
- As of 2012, the amount of short-term revenue that was being paid to S.F. host households: $12.7 million
