With vacation rental demand back on its upward trajectory, and average daily rate (ADR) hitting new heights, vacation rental management is a more attractive business prospect than ever. These prospects are causing supply, and most importantly professional supply, to grow. So, how significant is vacation rental growth in your US Destination? Today we look at the US States and cities experiencing the greatest growth since 2019.
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- growth in the largest supply states
- overall states with most rapid growth
- cities experiencing greatest growth
- professional supply growth
- variation in listings per property
Vacation rental growth across top US states
First off, we check out those US states with the most significant supply. These 10 states account for 61% of US vacation rental supply, so any growth here represents a substantial shift.
Encouragingly, significant growth has been seen in 9 out of 10 main supply states. Only Hawaii has seen a dip in inventory since 2019. California and Florida – the largest US vacation rental supply states by a margin – have both experienced 11% growth over the past 3 years. Texas however has seen the more significant growth. The lone star state’s 81% jump pushes it up to almost 100,000 vacation rental properties listed on our 4 top OTAs. Arizona and North Carolina take second and third spots respectively.
US Destinations with greatest growth
Next we dive into the outright chart-toppers. Again looking at the number of entire home vacation rental properties listed on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and TripAdvisor in June 2022 versus June 2019, we consider US states first. Then, we look at the US cities exhibiting most growth in listings 2019-2022.
US States with most significant vacation rental supply growth
Top of the pile is North Dakota, whose growth to just over 1000 properties means a 228% increase. To put this into context, Florida is closing in on 250k listings. Therein lies the limitation of this list; these 10 states represent just 12% of overall US vacation rental supply compared with the 61% above.
However, it is still interesting to consider which states are seeing the most relative growth, as this paints a picture of where vacation rentals are booming. In addition to North Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa have all doubled in vacation rental inventory since 2019. The crossover in lists is seen with Texas, whose 81% growth of course makes this list.
US cities with most significant vacation rental supply growth
As mentioned, next we consider the top 50 US cities in terms of vacation rental supply, and pick out those who have seen the greatest increase over the past 3 years.
Branson, Missouri is the clear winner here as you can see (+139%). All of our top 10 have seen inventory rise by over 60%.
Furthermore, in line with our look at which states have grown significantly, 40% of our top 10 are located in Texas. Perhaps more surprising is the appearance of Tennessee (+53%) 3 times in the top 10.
The remaining 3 destinations making the cut are based in Missouri, Florida and Maryland. Saint Augustine, FL for example has grown to 7861 listings - 80% more than it registered in 2019. Ocean City, MD meanwhile currently lists 11,441 listings on the top 4 booking platforms.
Rural destinations had seen more significant growth through the pandemic, but we are beginning to see this shift.
How professionalized is your destination?
Increasing supply helps to narrate the story of the maturing vacation rental industry. However, in addition to improved choice for travellers, it also signifies more competition for vacation rental property managers. Professional supply moreover, represents an increase in high occupancy stock - professional listings in the US hit 59% occupancy on average in June, while non-professional registered 51%. The pro:non-pro ratio can impact destination revenues and also be a good gauge for destinations understanding the importance of regulation.
For example, North Dakota, which as we have seen has grown 228% since 2019, has also seen a 62% increase in the proportion of professional stock. Iowa and Nebraska have also experienced 45% and 49% shifts respectively. Overall, professional supply in the US is up 18% since 2018, at 47% in total. Boston (59%) and San Diego (55%) are the US cities with the highest % of professional supply.
Listings per vacation rental - how 'distributed' is your destination?
Listings per property is not an often-seen metric. Despite this, it can be an interesting check point for destinations understanding duplicate listings or distribution across different platforms. Alabama (1.86), Colorado (1.83) and Utah (1.81) have the most listings per property.
North Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas show the lowest listings per property (1.20, 1.21, 1.23 respectively).
How significant is vacation rental growth in your US Destination?
The question is, what will this list look like next year? Will your destination appear? With access to vacation rental data, you can track the status and performance of your destination. How significant is vacation rental growth in your US Destination? Take the first step in learning your destination back to front by booking a demo with our team.