More Hudson Valley Airbnbs Spotlighted as Some Call For New Regulations

Top travel magazine Conde Nast recently released their list of the best Airbnbs within a 5-hour drive to New York City. The list is conveniently broken up into easily navigatable sections like "Upstate New York," "Long Island and Fire Island," and then another section for out-of-state but still close-by areas in New Jersey, Road Island, Massachusetts, and more.

We were curious to see what Upstate New York Airbnbs made this list and ended up finding out pretty much every single one was in the Hudson Valley (or lower, depending on whether you count Westchester as a part of the Hudson Valley).

It's not totally surprising to see these Hudson Valley picks considering how popular of a tourist destination the Hudson Valley has been over the last couple of years. However, it does raise the growing concern about Airbnb's impact on the housing crisis in the Hudson Valley.

The Hudson Valley's Best Airbnbs

One Airbnb highlighted was this "architectural wonder in the woods" located in Rhinebeck:

It has a 4.91 rating and is listed as "one of the most loved homes on Airbnb."  The home has been featured in Vogue Living and Architectural Digest and even won the New York Design Award in 2016.

The house has a total of 4 beds and 2 baths, but it won't come cheap (as you probably assumed at this point). The starting price for this Rhinebeck getaway starts at $450/night.

Other "Upstate New York" Airbnbs listed include options in some predominantly residential areas like Saugerties, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Warwick, and Tannersville to name a few.

While tourism is a vital part of allowing our small businesses to thrive, there's still that question about available housing for residents of the Hudson Valley.

How Do Airbnbs Impact Rent in the Hudson Valley?

One non-profit, For the Many, shares that according to studies done by McGill University, The University of Massachusetts-Boston Department of Economics, and The Social Science Research Network, "with each increase in Airbnb listings in a U.S. ZIP code, there are increases in rental and housing prices."

In the Hudson Valley, many of our Airbnbs are owned by, "absentee investors." These are people who buy property, own it outright, and then profit off of it through renting out the property. These absentee investors typically don't live in the Hudson Valley or even in New York on occasion.

We've seen these absentee investors similarly buying an affordable home, flipping it, and putting it back on the market for astronomical prices.

Maybe you'll recall the 2 bedroom house in Beacon that was sold for $260,000, flipped, and then put back on the market for *take a deep breath* $1,249,000!

Read more about that story here: Viral TikTok Video Calls Out Hudson Valley House Flippers

Recently, someone posed a question in the public Saugerties Village Facebook Group asking how the community felt about the Airbnb situation in Saugerties. The responses varied greatly.

Patricia C.S. shared one common feeling:

It’s very sad. Locals can’t afford to buy a home in the town they grew up in

Russel T.'s comment sums up the other side of the argument:

I think it is great. The restarants and bars need customers. Customers need a place to stay. The owners can do as they choose with the properties and they pay taxes.

In the mix of the 225 comments about this subject, many questioned if the town could do anything to regulate the system or tax the landowners as they would tax a business.

 Airbnb Regulations in New York

These regulations are really on an individual town and city basis.

New York City recently made updates to its Zoning and Short-Term Stay Regulations which included banning an apartment or home from being rented out for under 30 days. If a space is being rented out for under 30 days, the landlord or owner must be present during the guest's stay.

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Some other places in New York have specifically updated or created regulations directly responding to Airbnbs including Buffalo, Catskill, Cold Spring, Poughkeepsie,  Hunter, Lake Placid, Southhampton, and Village of the Branch.

The Homes Are Not Hotels initiative is aiming for a more stark change by placing a full ban on vacation rentals and issuing fines for those who go against the ban.