Vancouver vs Victoria: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Victoria edges ahead of Vancouver on higher occupancy (48% vs 42%), stronger RevPAR (£36 vs £36).

Head-to-head metrics

	Vancouver	Victoria
Median occupancy	42%	48%
Median daily rate	£85	£93
Median RevPAR	£36	£36
Active listings	3,993	2,586
YoY occupancy	-7.3 pts	+13.5 pts
YoY daily rate	-2%	+0.6%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Vancouver vs Victoria

Victoria finishes clearly ahead of Vancouver on our composite of occupancy, revenue per available night and regulation risk — and it is the calendar rather than the price tag doing the work. The twelve-month direction favours Victoria too: occupancy there moved +13.5 points while Vancouver moved −7.3 points. Victoria's listings run at 48% occupancy against 42% in Vancouver, worth 6 extra points of booked calendar every year. Those gaps are wide enough to survive a normal year's variance.

Victoria takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £93 against £85 — and still fills more of the year, 48% against 42%. 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 £36 against £36.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Vancouver is not simply the weaker market of the two. Vancouver is the deeper market at 3,993 active listings against 2,586, which usually means better comparables going in and a wider buyer pool coming out. Vancouver sits at the cheaper end at £85 a night against £93, 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 Vancouver nor Victoria 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. Vancouver peaks in September at 62.3% and bottoms in January at 38.4%; Victoria runs from 56.6% in October down to 39.6% in May. Victoria is the steadier of the two at 17 points peak-to-trough against 23.9 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Vancouver 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. Vancouver suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. It is the contrarian side: buying it means buying a market that has cooled. Victoria 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 1,206 active Vancouver listings and 866 in Victoria.

Frequently asked questions

Is Vancouver or Victoria better for Airbnb investment?

Victoria, on the data we track. It leads on the better occupancy trend (+13.5 points vs −7.3 points year over year), higher occupancy (48% vs 42%), and a higher nightly rate (£93 vs £85). Vancouver is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on a deeper market (3,993 vs 2,586 active listings).

Which has higher occupancy, Vancouver or Victoria?

Victoria, at 48% median occupancy against 42% in Vancouver — a gap of 6 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Vancouver can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Vancouver shed 7.3 points and Victoria gained 13.5 points, so the gap is widening.

Which has higher nightly rates, Vancouver or Victoria?

Victoria, at £93 a night against £85 in Vancouver — roughly 8.8% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £36 in Victoria against £36, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Vancouver or Victoria?

Victoria, on occupancy: +13.5 points over the last twelve months against −7.3 points in Vancouver. Nightly rates fell 2% in Vancouver and rose 0.6% in Victoria 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, Vancouver or Victoria?

Vancouver, with 3,993 active listings against 2,586 in Victoria. 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 Vancouver vs Victoria?

Victoria earns more: roughly £13,311 a year for a median listing against £13,207 in Vancouver. 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 Vancouver →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Victoria →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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