WASHINGTON — Airbnb hosts in the District will face strict new regulations this year about how often they can rent out their homes, but they had some nice side income from their Airbnb rentals in 2018, newly released figures show.
Airbnb said hosts in the District earned $96 million last year, up from $82 million in 2017.
The average Airbnb host in D.C earned about $10,000 in supplemental income last year.
Airbnb also said the approximately 6,300 Airbnb hosts in the District had a total of 517,500 guests.
After nearly two years of debate, the D.C. Council in November approved a short-term rental bill to regulate home-sharing services, such as Airbnb. The new rules restrict short-term rentals to a property owner’s primary residence and limit rentals to 90 days a year when the property owner is away or not living at the residence.
Airbnb called the new regulations reckless, and said they will deprive D.C. residents of millions of dollars in supplemental income a year.
Supporters of the bill say it will help ensure that the city’s affordable housing stock is not gobbled up by investors looking to make a buck in the home-sharing market.
