The Number

How many of your neighbors are renting rooms through Airbnb Inc.? A study earlier this year by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. looked at Airbnb’s impact using data provided by the company. LAEDC reported that the short-term rental app generated nearly $906 million in economic activity in the city of Los Angeles in 2016. The study examined the geography of Airbnb usage and its relation to the hotel industry. On a map showing Airbnb usage by ZIP code, the southeastern portion of the San Fernando Valley – including Studio City, Valley Village and Sherman Oaks – had between 10,000 and 50,000 night-stays during the year. A band through the central part of the Valley reported 5,000 to 10,000 Airbnb nights per year; this region included Woodland Hills, Winnetka and Van Nuys. The northern stretches of the Valley, including Chatsworth, Sylmar, Northridge and Porter Ranch, had less than 5,000 Airbnb rentals during the year. The city’s heaviest concentration of Airbnb usage was in Silverlake and Hollywood. Areas outside the city of Los Angeles, such as Burbank and Glendale, were not included in the study. “One key aspect to Airbnb’s operations that is starkly different from the hotel industry is its widespread presence across the city of Los Angeles, including neighborhoods that have no large hotels,” the report stated. “(The map) shows that 32.6 percent of Airbnb host revenues are from ZIP codes where there is no or minimal hotel activity and another 58 percent are in ZIP codes where there is moderate hotel activity.” The Valley includes only a few large hotels, mostly in Woodland Hills and Universal City. The study assumed that Airbnb rentals in these areas were direct substitutions for hotel bookings and generated no net economic activity.