From Listings to Limits: The Impact of Mandatory Hosting Platform Enforcement on Short-Term Rental Market Outcomes in San Francisco

Abstract

This thesis investigates the impact of the 2017 platform compliance ordinance on short-term rental market outcomes in San Francisco. This policy required hosting platforms to remove illegal listings from their websites, effectively strengthening a previous policy and tightening short-term rental regulations. In order to assess its effects, this study employs a two-way fixed effects model, a difference-in-differences model, and an event study model. The results indicate a significant decline in the rental market with reduced rental activity and host revenues. These findings suggest that the 2017 ordinance successfully dampened the short-term rental market in the city of San Francisco, with broader implications for cities worldwide aiming to address housing supply constraints.