How to Find Airbnb Properties | AirDNA

We’re going to level with you: short-term rental (STR) investments have seen better days. Many investors are actually seeing their lowest returns in recent memory. 

Why? Home values are skyrocketing, but the real reason is more nuanced. Investors don’t always know how to find Airbnb properties, leading them to invest in the wrong properties in the wrong markets. 

Take Big Bear, California, for example. A staggering amount of people bought properties in Big Bear both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. While those investments seemed promising, supply quickly outpaced demand. And that’s largely because many of those people jumped into investing in Airbnb without consulting the data.

The savviest STR investors know that in our new investment reality, knowing what to look for in a short-term rental property really means knowing how to research your competitors. In this guide, we’ll show you how to find Airbnb properties (with the best features) in the best markets using the new comps tool in our Property Performance Dashboard (PPD).

#1 - Find the Good & Filter Out the Bad

Not every property in your target market is actually your competitor. There is a whole subset of properties that are poorly run, have poor reviews, or simply don’t have the features you’re budgeting for. 

Wondering how to find Airbnb properties that underperform? Use our comp tool to exclude rentals with owner-occupants, low occupancy rates, poor reviews, no reviews, and even rentals that aren’t listed full-time.

With those out of the way, look for properties that are performing well. Those are the ones you’ll need to beat to succeed. 

#2 - Evaluate the Best Property Types 

Not all property types are created equal. Filter your data by property type, and you’ll see just how different the performance can be. Do apartments earn more than cabins? What about bed and breakfasts? You can use a comp tool like the one in our PPD to bounce back and forth between different property types to see which type earns the returns you’re targeting. 

You might be surprised by the results. While unique stays aren’t for every fund, unique stays were more in-demand than their more conventional counterparts—including apartments, lofts, condos, homes, and villas—in both 2020 and 2021. And these properties are even easier to find if you use our chart heat map. 

Look for properties that are unique yet well-positioned in your target market. If tiny homes are in high demand but low supply, that could be a great investment in the making.

#3 - Drill Down Into Specific Neighborhoods

Next, filter for properties in specific locations. To research an area on Airbnb, create a radius around the region you’re interested in using the draw-your-own map feature in the PPD. Want to only analyze properties within 10 blocks of the beach? Done. What about properties that aren’t by the beach but earn just as much revenue at a fraction of the overhead? Also possible.

Look for Airbnb properties that are geographically close to the highest-earning properties in your market. If you can get close, you may be able to earn similar returns with your own STR. 

Double-checking regulations is important, too. Regulations vary from market to market and even neighborhood to neighborhood. Strict regulations could make it illegal for you to operate an Airbnb. More lax regulations, on the other hand, could still make it challenging to manage your Airbnb in a way that will generate the returns you’re targeting.