The Miami metropolitan area has thousands of multifamily units under construction, many of them with short-term rental flexibility, and that makes the city one of Airbnb’s favorite markets, said Jesse Stein, the company’s global head of real estate.
Unlike other global markets, Miami has embraced Airbnb and the short-term rental concept wholeheartedly, said Stein, who joined Airbnb in 2020 and launched the company’s apartments program in 2022 in which renters sublease their units for short-term stays and revenue is shared among tenants, landlords and Airbnb.
“I would say Miami is one of our top favorite markets globally. It is absolutely booming, and a lot of it has to do with the love the mayor, the city and the local government has given us,” said Stein, who was speaking at a luncheon this week at 72 Park, a recently completed 206-unit condominium from New York developer Lefferts in Miami Beach. The condos in the North Beach neighborhood offer short-term rentals through Airbnb.
And the numbers back him up. According to the latest report by luxury brokerage ISG World, over 15,000 preconstruction units in Miami are set to offer some form of short-term rental flexibility.
It’s a stark contrast to other global cities. Miami “welcomes us with open arms versus other markets like New York and Barcelona and Seoul,” which have banned or severely limited the availability of Airbnb to operate, Stein said.
New York, for example, implemented a law in 2023 that requires short-term rental hosts to register their listings and obtain a unique registration number in a move meant to help combat rising costs, but it’s effectively a “crackdown,” said Victor Rodriguez, CoStar’s senior director of market analytics for New York.
“New York City banned most short-term rentals under 30 days unless the host is registered and present during the stay,” Rodriguez said. “The restrictions were to put in place to combat the lack of available apartments for rent and their growing unaffordability. While the crackdown has dramatically reduced Airbnb listings, New York remains the tightest and most expensive market” in the country for renters, Rodriguez said.
While Miami’s growing inventory swings in the opposite direction, which may pose a concern for a smaller short-term rental provider, “Airbnb is huge, and we have consumers globally,” Stein said. “Time will tell on supply and demand, but I’m still very bullish on the market,” he added. “There’s so much demand for investment properties in Miami, specifically.”
Airbnb also brands for-sale properties, Stein said, providing building marketing materials that carry the short-term rental company’s official branding. That further insulates the company and the developers that partner with Airbnb from what could otherwise become a crowded market.
“Consumers know when they see our stamp of approval, they’re allowed to Airbnb it,” Stein said. “There’s a lot of folks out there that want to say they’re Airbnb and then all of a sudden it’s something else.”
A report by the Miami Association of Realtors highlights that nearly half of Miami’s condo buyers are international, with a majority coming from Latin America. Developers and brokers have previously told CoStar News that many of them appreciate the flexibility short-term rental or Airbnb-enabled units offer and often rent out their units to help cover maintenance costs or provide additional income.
“There are few markets like Miami in the U.S., to be honest,” said Stein. “When we look across the playing field, the international buyer wants to buy in the gateway market. LA is not going to be a huge opportunity in the [short-term rental] market. New York? No. Miami is green like go,” he said.