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

Bottom line

Quebec City edges ahead of New Brunswick on higher occupancy (34.5% vs 19.7%), stronger RevPAR (£44 vs £26).

Head-to-head metrics

	New Brunswick	Quebec City
Median occupancy	19.7%	34.5%
Median daily rate	£120	£151
Median RevPAR	£26	£44
Active listings	3,765	1,999
YoY occupancy	+0.5 pts	-9.9 pts
YoY daily rate	+38.1%	+61.3%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: New Brunswick vs Quebec City

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Quebec City finishes decisively ahead of New Brunswick. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 68.2% higher in Quebec City: £44 against £26. Quebec City sells 14.8 more points of its calendar — 34.5% median occupancy against 19.7% in New Brunswick. That is not a rounding difference, and it compounds over a hold period.

Quebec City takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £151 against £120 — and still fills more of the year, 34.5% against 19.7%. 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 £44 against £26.

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 Quebec City moved −9.9 points. New Brunswick's calendar is the flatter of the two — 13.8 points between its best and worst month against 31 in Quebec City — which makes debt service easier to underwrite. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither New Brunswick nor Quebec City 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. New Brunswick peaks in October at 52.1% and bottoms in June at 38.3%; Quebec City runs from 58.9% in October down to 27.9% in January. New Brunswick is the steadier of the two at 13.8 points peak-to-trough against 31 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Quebec City 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. New Brunswick suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. It is also the momentum side of this pair. Quebec City answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. It is the contrarian side: buying it means buying a market that has cooled. 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 3,765 active New Brunswick listings and 1,999 in Quebec City.

Frequently asked questions

Is New Brunswick or Quebec City better for Airbnb investment?

Quebec City, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£44 vs £26), higher occupancy (34.5% vs 19.7%), and a higher nightly rate (£151 vs £120). New Brunswick is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on the better occupancy trend (+0.5 points vs −9.9 points year over year).

Which has higher occupancy, New Brunswick or Quebec City?

Quebec City, at 34.5% median occupancy against 19.7% in New Brunswick — a gap of 14.8 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 New Brunswick gained 0.5 points and Quebec City shed 9.9 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, New Brunswick or Quebec City?

Quebec City, at £151 a night against £120 in New Brunswick — roughly 25.4% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £44 in Quebec City against £26, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

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

New Brunswick, on occupancy: +0.5 points over the last twelve months against −9.9 points in Quebec City. Nightly rates rose 38.1% in New Brunswick and rose 61.3% in Quebec City 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, New Brunswick or Quebec City?

New Brunswick, with 3,765 active listings against 1,999 in Quebec City. 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 New Brunswick vs Quebec City?

Quebec City earns more: roughly £16,021 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 New Brunswick →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Quebec City →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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