OPINION: Trying to Sell Your Short-Term Rental?

I’m 62 years old, but if I were a junior attending Pagosa Springs High School, I would seriously consider writing an urban planning article about supply, demand, and the price of residential homes. A published article could be a great differentiator when applying to a great university, and when seeking to attract scholarship money.

It is very unfortunate that AirBNB operators in some cities are facing a 50% decline in revenue. A decline in revenue might be the result of a slowdown in post-pandemic travel, or a massive increase in Airbnb supply.

A recent Reventure article defines “AirBNB” as the broader short-term rental market (AirBNB, VRBO, Booking.com, and other travel sites).

What caught my attention was the AllTheRooms.com claim that “65% more AirBNBs are now for sale than private Homes”.

Could this statistic possibly be true in vacation destination like Pagosa Springs, Colorado?

An inquisitive high school student could do the research, and get themselves published…

Could it be true that Realtor.com data now reveals that the number of homes Listed For Sale has plummeted to 554,921… while Realtor.com data also reveals that rentals on AirBNB / VRBO have now reached 965,391 (65% higher inventory)?

A student could dig into the data to understand whether STR revenue is dropping in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Are Mountain West cities (like Fort Collins, Denver, Colorado Springs) seeing a 40% – 45% decline in STR revenue? Reventure Consulting has published that STR revenue in Austin, Texas has now declined 48.6%.

Apparently in Travis County (not where I live today) which is the main urban county in Austin, Texas there are about ~ 9,200
rentals on AirBNB compared to about 4,000 listings For Sale. That is way worse than a 65% higher inventory in Pagosa
Springs, Colorado. In Travis County we apparently have a 230% Supply Ratio (AirBNB for sale vs. Private Homes for sale).

I feel fortunate because I do not currently live in a rural area, or a vacation destination. If I lived in a location like Fredericksburg, Texas (two hours west of Austin) the Supply Ratio could be as high as 630% (over 6x as many AirBNB Listings for every Private Home for sale).

Hank Lydick

Hank Lydick took 'early' retirement to build a home in Austin, Texas, and a cabin in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.