We'll start our analysis of Airbnb listings in New York City by reviewing things at the borough level. Much of the city's commercial and tourist activities are centered in Manhattan and Brooklyn, so it is not a surprise to see that those markets are home to the majority of Airbnb listings. When it comes to pricing, Airbnb listings - regardless of property type - tend to be the most expensive in Manhattan.

While borough-level information regarding property types and pricing is interesting, it doesn't fully capture variances within boroughs. To demonstrate the need to get a bit more granular, let's take a look at pricing variance in Brooklyn.

With this much variance in mind, it's key to dig in beyond the borough level and further segment our market into smaller neighborhoods. There are 221 neighborhoods in our dataset and the top fifteen neighborhoods (in terms of the amount of listings) and average per night pricing are detailed below:

Airbnb generates revenue from their stays business via two sources - a booking fee (ranging between 6-12%) charged to guests and a transaction fee (3%) charged to hosts for each successful transaction. Assuming 48% occupancy* and using the room availability contained within the dataset, I estimate that Airbnb generates between $41MM and $69MM of revenue annually** via listings in New York City. You can see visual summaries below highlighting estimated revenue contributions broken down by property type and borough.

* This occupancy estimate comes from AllTheRooms, a provider of short-term rental and Airbnb data and analytics.
** To estimate revenue, I first calculated an annual max revenue on a per-listing basis, incorporating each listing's price, availability, and the average 48% occupancy rate (listing_max). To estimate Airbnb's overall revenue, I took that figure and calculated a minimum revenue based on the low-end 6% booking fee and a maximum revenue based on the high-end 12% booking fee.

While Manhattan comprises 44% of total listings in our dataset, I estimate that the borough comprises 59% of Airbnb's revenue in New York City. While there are many factors at play, two factors that we've already touched on are: (i) the higher average per-night cost charged for listings in Manhattan and (ii) the large number of higher-priced, entire home listings.

Another factor to consider is the availability of properties. According to the data we have, entire home listings in Manhattan are available, on average, 20 additional days* per year in comparison to Brooklyn (the next largest borough). When combined with the higher price point, the expanded availability is likely a key factor driving outsized revenue in Manhattan.

* Entire home listings in Brooklyn are available on average 97 days per year, compared with 117 days per year in Manhattan. When reviewing the data, there are a considerable amount of listings that show that they're available 0 days per year. These listings are not included in revenue estimates (given the methodology outlined earlier), but are included in the availability figure quoted above. To confirm if the main takeaway remains the same, I stripped out the 0 availability listings and re-calculated the average availability for entire home listings in each borough. With those listings excluded, entire homes are available in Brooklyn, on average, 153 days per year. In Manhattan, the figure jumps to 183 days per year.