US: June kicks off a mammoth summer for US short-term rentals, with lead times normalising, demand high and occupancy rising.
According to short-term rental data provider AirDNA, the US short-term rental industry posted another strong month as occupancy rose to an all-time high of 70.2 per cent in June 2021, a full 20 per cent higher than June 2019. This is the first time the United States has exceeded an average occupancy of 70 per cent.
The Fourth of July holiday weekend is historically one of highest demand weekends, and the biggest winners in 2021 relative to 2020 were markets in the Hawaiian Islands, where demand more than doubled for the weekend.
In Maui, demand was up over 230 per cent vs the same weekend in 2020. Resort cities in the United States saw the biggest gains over 2019 for the Fourth of July weekend where Fort Lauderdaleย [+36 per cent], Phoenix / Scottsdaleย [+35 per cent], and Cape Coral / Fort Myersย [+32 per cent], each had more than 30 per cent growth in demand for the weekend.
Book ahead? Too late in top destinations
Booking lead times, typically around 30-90 days from confirmation to arrival, peak in the summer as limited available supply leads guests to book their rentals months in advance to secure the best homes.
Jamie Lane, VP of research at AirDNA, said: “Monitoring lead times is key to making smart pricing decisions. In May 2020, lead times dropped as low as 18 days, with guests delaying booking decisions.
“The natural response was to discount your listing, but now, as lead times normalise, hosts can have much more confidence their unit will book, even at higher rates.”
The median lead time in June 2021 was 59 days, catching up to the 62 days in June 2019.
Demand is hot, but can investors capitalise on it?
New US short-term rental unit additions reached 55,000 in June and are now at the highest level since the start of the pandemic, but just shy of the average of 60,000 new units per month that were being added between 2017 and 2019.
AirDNA CEO Scott Shatford said: “With a strong summer on the books and the fall looking positive, many industry participants are setting their sights on making new investments in the sector. Seeing the positive returns that hosts are realising by investing in short-term rentals and record high demand, we expect continued strong investment.”
For more information, read the full AirDNA report at this link.
