Milan vs Venice: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Venice edges ahead of Milan on higher occupancy (36% vs 30%), stronger RevPAR (£34 vs £20).

Head-to-head metrics

	Milan	Venice
Median occupancy	30%	36%
Median daily rate	£103	£131
Median RevPAR	£20	£34
Active listings	16,143	6,967
YoY occupancy	+13.6 pts	+6.4 pts
YoY daily rate	-2.4%	-13.2%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Milan vs Venice

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Venice finishes clearly ahead of Milan. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 73% higher in Venice: £34 against £20. Venice commands 27.7% more per night, £131 against £103. Those gaps are wide enough to survive a normal year's variance.

Venice takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £131 against £103 — and still fills more of the year, 36% against 30%. 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 £34 against £20.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Milan is not simply the weaker market of the two. The twelve-month direction favours Milan too: occupancy there moved +13.6 points while Venice moved +6.4 points. Milan is the deeper market at 16,143 active listings against 6,967, which usually means better comparables going in and a wider buyer pool coming out. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Milan nor Venice 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. Milan peaks in September at 69.5% and bottoms in December at 33.5%; Venice runs from 62.8% in September down to 28.1% in November. Both swing by a similar amount across the year, so neither offers meaningfully steadier cash flow than the other.

Who each suits, then. Milan suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. It is also the momentum side of this pair. Venice answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, dated 2025-09, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 9,889 active Milan listings and 3,599 in Venice.

Frequently asked questions

Is Milan or Venice better for Airbnb investment?

Venice, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£34 vs £20), a higher nightly rate (£131 vs £103), and higher occupancy (36% vs 30%). Milan is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on the better occupancy trend (+13.6 points vs +6.4 points year over year).

Which has higher occupancy, Milan or Venice?

Venice, at 36% median occupancy against 30% in Milan — a gap of 6 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Milan can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Milan gained 13.6 points and Venice gained 6.4 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, Milan or Venice?

Venice, at £131 a night against £103 in Milan — roughly 27.7% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £34 in Venice against £20, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Milan or Venice?

Milan, on occupancy: +13.6 points over the last twelve months against +6.4 points in Venice. Nightly rates fell 2.4% in Milan and fell 13.2% in Venice 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, Milan or Venice?

Milan, with 16,143 active listings against 6,967 in Venice. 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 Milan vs Venice?

Venice earns more: roughly £12,342 a year for a median listing against £7,140 in Milan. 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 Milan →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Venice →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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