SF’s Home-Sharing Laws Likely to Spread

Airbnb’s app for the Apple Watch; it’s estimated that two-thirds of home-sharing units are unregistered. (Photo courtesy of Airbnb)

NEW YORK CITY—The unanimous vote by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to require Airbnb and other home-sharing services to remove listings of unregistered units or pay a steep fine is likely to be the first in a series of crackdowns by other municipalities across the US, say analysts from Canaccord Genuity. They cite a study published by Penn State University last September which found that nearly two-thirds of Airbnb units outside San Francisco would violate that city’s regulations of the home-sharing sector.

“We expect this dynamic to provide a marginal tailwind to hotel fundamentals and spread from San Francisco to other major markets in the coming months,” the analysts write. “That should be a positive for operating results as well as sentiment toward lodging stocks.”