AirDNA report: coronavirus causes boom for non-urban rentals in the US
US: Short-term rental data provider AirDNA has released a report revealing how urban, suburban, and rural vacation rental markets are responding to the growing impact of COVID-19 in the United States.
Monitoring the severity of the situation daily, the company is navigating through a diverse industry to report new insights on how each market is performing during these unprecedented times.
Taking the findings into account, AirDNA states that population density appears to be directly related to the health of its short-term rental market. Roughly 73 per cent of March Airbnb revenue was made outside of large urban centres.
Key findings of the U.S. rural vs. urban analysis:
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Northern, Midwest states such as Wyoming, Michigan and Minnesota are seemingly far less vulnerable than their southern and coastal counterparts. Meanwhile, Massachusettes, New York, Pennsylvania and Louisiana are all showing negative year-on-year returns.
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The rural vs. urban trends become even more evident when conducting analysis beyond a certain radius outside of the city centre. Much of Manhattan and New Jersey are collectively down 66 per cent from the same month last year, while Boston, Massachusetts, and Chicago, Illinois, are seeing pronounced struggles according to the data.
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The rural category is the only one reporting significant year-on-year gains.
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Urban and suburban neighbourhoods seem to be decreasing for the next six months while rural destinations are reporting a mid-summer turnaround.
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“Destination” style locations that are within driving distance of urban centres reported the most prominent growth in their reservations in the past week. Among the non-urban destinations that have witnessed the most significant rises in reservations over the last week include Pacific Beach, Washington [387.7 per cent growth], Sanibel, Florida [324.4 per cent growth], Napa, California [237.6 per cent] and Spicewood, Texas [207.8 per cent].
AirDNA founder and CEO, Scott Shatford, said: “The situation continues to be highly volatile and evolving by the hour. We’re seeing a very fragmented set of responses with some locations clearly more vulnerable than others.”
For more information, visit the AirDNA website here.
