Austin TX bookings drop off in rentals

[Jeff-And-Lisa2]

Has anyone else here in Austin been experience a significant drop off in rentals for this summer? We have been very successful other the past year and then bookings just kind of stopped from May thoughSeptember.

We are superhosts in the 04 with a pretty cool home with excellent  reviews, so we are a bit perplexed.

Thanks.

[Pat271]

@Jeff-And-Lisa2 

All you have to do is look at like-kind accommodations in your area, and check the calendars. You’ll be able to tell right away if you are in the same boat as everyone else.

I know that Austin and Phoenix are currently oversaturated with short-term rentals to the extreme. Many hosts jumped on the bandwagon during the 2020-2022 timeframe. Trouble is, the bandwagon is now overflowing, with many hosts unable to hang on. 

We can hope that during the next couple of years, the supply will reduce and the demand will remain the same or even get stronger. Then there will be hopefully be enough business for everyone.

Of course, it goes without saying that constantly improving your property, being a hospitable host, marketing your property correctly, etc. are also necessary ingredients for achieving success. You can find tons of info by searching this site to find tips and tricks towards that end.

[Fred13]

What @Pat271  said below is correct, and it also feels to me there is a certain 'nervousness in the air' because of many factors: economy, layoffs, election time (again), endless countervailing social forces, high consumer borrowing (credit card debt rising), etc etc.

Low consumer confidence causes people to become nervous and very conservative in their spending. I suppose caution is the order of the day, till further notice.

[Jeff-And-Lisa2]

Yes, but if you look out at the press and everything else, they will tell you that this is the biggest travel season in a long time due to pent-up demand so I’m not sure how valid that is a reason for the Austin ATX market. 

[Ana2038]

@Jeff-And-Lisa2 , it could be the combination of what @Fred13 and @Pat271  have shared in their response.  A recent article dated May 5, 2023 from the Chamber of Commerce, chamber of commerce.org, shows Austin, Texas as one of the top three most expensive Airbnb rentals. “Oxnard, California, Scottsdale, Arizona and Austin, Texas are the most expensive cities to rent an Airbnb.” As far as saturation, Austin, Texas is in 12th place.

[Pat271]

The Chamber of Commerce list for # of listings is per 100,000 residents. The number of residents doesn’t really reflect saturation - it is the number of visitors that would be a true measure. I think Austin is much higher on the list given that measurement.

I’m wondering about the completeness of this list as well - I’m pretty sure Maui is higher in price per night than Oahu, and yet Maui isn’t even on the list. They may not include cities with less than 100,000 population, which again, is a significant omission since Maui gets millions of visitors per year.

Anyway, thanks for the link - I hadn’t seen the Chamber of Commerce lists before.