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Airbnb has introduced a new program called “Airbnb-friendly apartments” in the US, that allows renters to find an apartment in more than 25 markets — including Austin, Houston, Phoenix, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, Sacramento, and Tampa — where they can Airbnb a spare room, or the whole apartment while they’re away.
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The company has partnered with local building owners to list 175 “Airbnb-friendly” apartments across different regions. Renters can head to the company’s dedicated site for the program and hunt for properties in a specific location. Once you select an apartment, you can use an earnings calculator that estimates how much you can earn from listing the place on Airbnb. Typically, rental buildings prohibit tenants from subletting for short stays, so this comes as a change of pace however, some cities, such as New York City and Washington, D.C., are not available due to local restrictions on short-term rentals.
Why it matters
Airbnb claimed that in a recent poll conducted by the company — results of which are not public — three-quarters of “US adults support allowing renters to share their apartments on a short-term basis.” Given how much apartment rents have climbed over the past few years, along with home prices and other rising prices, tenants are increasingly looking for ways to supplement their incomes to make their monthly payments. Rents are starting to ease, but are still up 10% from a year ago, according to Apartment List.
