Albany vs Austin: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Austin edges ahead of Albany on higher occupancy (42% vs 36%), stronger RevPAR (£25 vs £16).

Head-to-head metrics

	Albany	Austin
Median occupancy	36%	42%
Median daily rate	£77	£100
Median RevPAR	£16	£25
Active listings	371	7,933
YoY occupancy	+8.9 pts	+14.1 pts
YoY daily rate	-4.4%	-7.4%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Albany vs Austin

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Austin finishes clearly ahead of Albany. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 54.7% higher in Austin: £25 against £16. Austin commands 29.9% more per night, £100 against £77. Those gaps are wide enough to survive a normal year's variance.

Austin takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £100 against £77 — and still fills more of the year, 42% against 36%. A market that leads on price and utilisation at once is normally one where demand has outrun supply, rather than one where hosts are discounting to keep the calendar busy. RevPAR reflects the double advantage at £25 against £16.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Albany is not simply the weaker market of the two. Albany is the less crowded of the two — 371 active listings to 7,933 — so a well-run property has fewer near-identical rivals to out-rank. Albany sits at the cheaper end at £77 a night against £100, which lowers the bar for filling shoulder-season dates and usually tracks a lower purchase price too. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Albany nor Austin currently has a verified short-term rental regulation record in our register, so the comparison above is a yield comparison only. Regulation is the single largest source of downside in this asset class — an unverified market is an unpriced risk, not an absent one.

The two calendars also behave differently. Albany peaks in November at 43.6% and bottoms in February at 24%; Austin runs from 49% in September down to 24.7% in December. Albany is the steadier of the two at 19.6 points peak-to-trough against 24.3 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Austin concentrates its return into a shorter window and rewards operators who price the peak aggressively instead of holding a flat rate all year.

Who each suits, then. Albany suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. Austin answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. It is also the momentum side of this pair. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 217 active Albany listings and 4,251 in Austin.

Frequently asked questions

Is Albany or Austin better for Airbnb investment?

Austin, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£25 vs £16), a higher nightly rate (£100 vs £77), and higher occupancy (42% vs 36%). Albany is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on a thinner competitive field (371 vs 7,933 active listings).

Which has higher occupancy, Albany or Austin?

Austin, at 42% median occupancy against 36% in Albany — a gap of 6 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Albany can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Albany gained 8.9 points and Austin gained 14.1 points, so the gap is widening.

Which has higher nightly rates, Albany or Austin?

Austin, at £100 a night against £77 in Albany — roughly 29.9% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £25 in Austin against £16, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Albany or Austin?

Austin, on occupancy: +14.1 points over the last twelve months against +8.9 points in Albany. Nightly rates fell 4.4% in Albany and fell 7.4% in Austin over the same window. One year of movement is a direction, not a trend — weigh it against the regulation picture before treating it as momentum.

Which is the bigger Airbnb market, Albany or Austin?

Austin, with 7,933 active listings against 371 in Albany. Size cuts both ways: a deep market gives you comparables, contractors and an exit, while a thinner one means fewer near-identical rivals competing for the same search results.

How much can you earn from an Airbnb in Albany vs Austin?

Austin earns more: roughly £9,062 a year for a median listing against £5,840 in Albany. Those are gross booking revenues before cleaning, management, platform fees, furnishing amortisation and tax — budget for a meaningful share of them, and note that a median listing is a median operator, not a good one.

Go deeper on each city

Market guide

Airbnb in Albany →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Austin →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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