Montreal vs New Brunswick: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Montreal edges ahead of New Brunswick on higher occupancy (34% vs 19.7%), stronger RevPAR (£34 vs £26).

Head-to-head metrics

	Montreal	New Brunswick
Median occupancy	34%	19.7%
Median daily rate	£116	£120
Median RevPAR	£34	£26
Active listings	7,186	3,765
YoY occupancy	-5.5 pts	+0.5 pts
YoY daily rate	+45.9%	+38.1%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Montreal vs New Brunswick

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Montreal finishes decisively ahead of New Brunswick. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 28.9% higher in Montreal: £34 against £26. Montreal sells 14.3 more points of its calendar — 34% median occupancy against 19.7% in New Brunswick. That is not a rounding difference, and it compounds over a hold period.

The two markets reach their revenue by different routes, which is what makes this pairing worth reading rather than just tabulating. New Brunswick is the rate market: £120 a night against £116, some 3.6% more, but it converts fewer of those nights at 19.7% occupancy. Montreal is the volume market, filling 34% of its calendar at a lower headline price. Revenue per available night settles it: £34 in Montreal against £26. Rate is what you advertise; RevPAR is what you bank.

That verdict needs a caveat, because New Brunswick is not simply the weaker market of the two. The twelve-month direction favours New Brunswick too: occupancy there moved +0.5 points while Montreal moved −5.5 points. New Brunswick's calendar is the flatter of the two — 13.8 points between its best and worst month against 33.5 in Montreal — which makes debt service easier to underwrite. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Montreal nor New Brunswick 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. Montreal peaks in September at 62.4% and bottoms in February at 28.9%; New Brunswick runs from 52.1% in October down to 38.3% in June. New Brunswick is the steadier of the two at 13.8 points peak-to-trough against 33.5 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Montreal 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. Montreal suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. It is the contrarian side: buying it means buying a market that has cooled. New Brunswick 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, dated 2026-09, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 7,186 active Montreal listings and 3,765 in New Brunswick.

Frequently asked questions

Is Montreal or New Brunswick better for Airbnb investment?

Montreal, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£34 vs £26), higher occupancy (34% vs 19.7%), and higher median annual revenue (£12,277 vs £9,519). New Brunswick is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on the better occupancy trend (+0.5 points vs −5.5 points year over year).

Which has higher occupancy, Montreal or New Brunswick?

Montreal, at 34% median occupancy against 19.7% in New Brunswick — a gap of 14.3 points. That is a wide spread by short-term rental standards and usually reflects a structural demand difference rather than better hosting. Over the last twelve months Montreal shed 5.5 points and New Brunswick gained 0.5 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, Montreal or New Brunswick?

New Brunswick, at £120 a night against £116 in Montreal — roughly 3.6% more. The nightly rate is not the whole story, though. On revenue per available night — rate multiplied by how often the room actually sells — Montreal comes out ahead at £34 against £26, so Montreal's cheaper nights are more than repaid by how often they fill.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Montreal or New Brunswick?

New Brunswick, on occupancy: +0.5 points over the last twelve months against −5.5 points in Montreal. Nightly rates rose 45.9% in Montreal and rose 38.1% in New Brunswick 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, Montreal or New Brunswick?

Montreal, with 7,186 active listings against 3,765 in New Brunswick. 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 Montreal vs New Brunswick?

Montreal earns more: roughly £12,277 a year for a median listing against £9,519 in New Brunswick. 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 Montreal →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in New Brunswick →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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