Short Changing New York City: The Impact of Airbnb on New York City’s Housing Market

Summary

Based on analysis of U.S Census and American Communities Survey data, all neighborhoods studied experienced changes in demographic composition between 2000 and 2014. Most notably, the neighborhoods have experienced changes in the proportion of white residents and the proportion of residents over 25 years old with a Bachelor’s degree or higher education, two indicators of gentrification defined by the Furman Center’s report. In fact, the proportion of residents with at least a Bachelor’s degree increased by greater than 12 percentage points in each of the five macro-neighborhoods. The change in racial composition was most prominent in Brooklyn neighborhoods, demonstrating an influx of white residents. The proportion of white residents increased by 10 percentage points in Williamsburg/Greenpoint/Bushwick and by 13 percentage points in Bedford Stuyvesant/Crown Heights. The Brooklyn macro-neighborhoods also experienced the sharpest decline in poverty rate, indicating new residents moving into the communities are lightly to be higher income.