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

Bottom line

Quebec City edges ahead of New Brunswick on higher occupancy (62% vs 42%), stronger RevPAR (£30 vs £18).

Head-to-head metrics

	New Brunswick	Quebec City
Median occupancy	42%	62%
Median daily rate	£87	£70
Median RevPAR	£18	£30
Active listings	3,390	1,884
YoY occupancy	+22.3 pts	+11 pts
YoY daily rate	+0%	+11%
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 66.6% higher in Quebec City: £30 against £18. Quebec City sells 20 more points of its calendar — 62% median occupancy against 42% 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: £87 a night against £70, some 24% more, but it converts fewer of those nights at 42% occupancy. Quebec City is the volume market, filling 62% of its calendar at a lower headline price. Revenue per available night settles it: £30 in Quebec City against £18. 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. Nightly rates favour New Brunswick: £87 against £70 in Quebec City, a 24% premium. The twelve-month direction favours New Brunswick too: occupancy there moved +22.3 points while Quebec City moved +11 points. If your model leans on nightly rate rather than volume, 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 July at 51.1% and bottoms in June at 39.2%; Quebec City runs from 50.3% in November down to 26.7% in April. New Brunswick is the steadier of the two at 11.9 points peak-to-trough against 23.6 — 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 and who can hold rate through the shoulder season rather than discounting to fill the calendar. 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 market for an owner whose economics survive high turnover — more bookings, more cleans, more guest contact per pound of revenue. 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 2,122 active New Brunswick listings and 581 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 (£30 vs £18), higher occupancy (62% vs 42%), and higher median annual revenue (£10,797 vs £6,473). New Brunswick is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on a higher nightly rate (£87 vs £70).

Which has higher occupancy, New Brunswick or Quebec City?

Quebec City, at 62% median occupancy against 42% in New Brunswick — a gap of 20 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 22.3 points and Quebec City gained 11 points, so the gap is closing.

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

New Brunswick, at £87 a night against £70 in Quebec City — roughly 24% more. The nightly rate is not the whole story, though. On revenue per available night — rate multiplied by how often the room actually sells — Quebec City comes out ahead at £30 against £18, so Quebec City's cheaper nights are more than repaid by how often they fill.

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

New Brunswick, on occupancy: +22.3 points over the last twelve months against +11 points in Quebec City. Nightly rates held flat in New Brunswick and rose 11% 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 3,390 active listings against 1,884 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 £10,797 a year for a median listing against £6,473 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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