People ask me all the time where they should buy a short term rental right now.
Usually they’ve been on one of the data platforms for a few hours. Maybe a few days. They’ve found some town they’ve never heard of that supposedly has a 22 percent cap rate and a 90 percent occupancy rate and they’re convinced they’ve discovered the next big thing.
I get it. The data can look convincing.
But when you’ve been watching these markets for years and helping investors buy properties in them, the patterns look a little different.
At The Short Term Shop we’ve helped more than 5,000 investors buy short term rentals and closed over $3.5 billion in transactions. After doing this long enough, you start to see which markets actually hold up and which ones fall apart after a couple years.
The markets that consistently perform tend to be the ones that have been vacation destinations for decades. The places families have been driving to for generations. The places where tourism is the backbone of the local economy.
That’s what we tend to look for first.
Where investors are actually buying short term rentals in 2026
A lot of the time the strongest markets for short term rental investing aren’t the ones getting hyped by data platforms.
They’re the ones people have been vacationing in for fifty years.
Here are the markets we see performing most consistently right now.
Smoky Mountains — why it’s still the top short term rental market
If someone asked me to pick one market that consistently performs for short term rentals, the Smoky Mountains would probably be the first one I’d mention.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the United States. That alone creates an enormous tourism engine.
But the bigger reason investors like the area is the seasonality. Or really the lack of it.
Summer stays busy with family vacations. Fall foliage season fills the mountains with leaf peepers. Winter brings holiday travel and ski trips to Ober Mountain. Spring break fills the shoulder season.
There are slower weeks of course, but there really isn’t a dead season.
Most of the investors we work with at The Short Term Shop end up buying three or four bedroom cabins there. That size tends to attract family groups and small friend groups, which is exactly the type of traveler the Smoky Mountains pull in year after year.
If someone wants to see what inventory actually looks like in that market, we usually point them to the Smoky Mountains listings here.
https://theshorttermshop.com/smoky-mountains-homes-for-sale/
Destin, 30A, and Panama City Beach — Florida’s Emerald Coast for vacation rental investing
Florida’s Emerald Coast is another area that keeps showing up in conversations with investors.
Technically it’s several different markets that happen to share the same stretch of coastline. Destin, 30A, and Panama City Beach all attract slightly different types of travelers.
30A is probably the luxury side of the spectrum. Places like Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach attract higher end travelers and command higher nightly rates. The purchase prices reflect that too.
Destin sits somewhere in the middle. It’s been a tourism destination for decades and the area has a lot of infrastructure built around vacation travel. Restaurants, marinas, charter fishing, beach activities.
Panama City Beach tends to be the most accessible entry point from a price standpoint. A lot of investors start there because the purchase price can make the numbers easier to make sense.
If someone is trying to figure out which of those markets might fit them, we usually recommend starting with a conversation here.
https://theshorttermshop.com/buyer
That page connects buyers with agents on our team who specialize in each of these markets.
Gulf Shores and Orange Beach — affordable beach market for short term rental investors
Gulf Shores is another beach market that surprises people sometimes.
The beaches there look almost identical to the Florida panhandle. Same white sand, same emerald water. But the purchase prices can be noticeably lower.
Condos dominate that market, which lowers the entry point for a lot of investors.
The tourism demand has been growing steadily for years. Summer stays extremely strong, but events like the National Shrimp Festival and other fall events have helped extend the season quite a bit.
A lot of first time investors end up looking seriously at Gulf Shores simply because the entry price is more approachable.
Blue Ridge Georgia — a growing cabin market for short term rental investing
Blue Ridge has quietly become one of the more popular cabin markets in the Southeast.
A big part of that comes from its proximity to Atlanta. Millions of people live within a two to three hour drive, which creates a constant flow of weekend travelers.
Guests come up for hiking, river tubing, fishing, and just getting out of the city for a few days.
Cabins with outdoor features tend to do the best. Mountain views, hot tubs, large decks. Those kinds of amenities tend to make a noticeable difference in nightly rates.
The area has also matured quite a bit as a short term rental market. Property management companies, cleaning companies, and maintenance vendors are much easier to find now than they were ten years ago.
Broken Bow Oklahoma — the cabin market investors keep discovering
Broken Bow is probably the market on this list that surprises people the most.
It sits about three hours from Dallas Fort Worth, which has become one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country. Over time Broken Bow turned into the weekend mountain escape for a large portion of North Texas.
The cabins there tend to be purpose built vacation rentals.
Indoor pools, big game rooms, oversized decks, lots of design attention. The type of property that photographs well and attracts attention online.
That style of cabin has worked extremely well for short term rentals because the property itself becomes part of the experience.
Broken Bow also tends to have fewer regulatory complications compared to many other vacation markets, which has helped the market grow quickly.
Orlando — how short term rental investing works in a theme park market
Orlando works very differently from most other short term rental markets.
You can’t just buy any house and start renting it nightly. Short term rentals operate inside designated resort communities that were designed specifically for vacation rentals.
Places like Reunion, Champions Gate, and Windsor Hills.
Those communities have resort style amenities, property management infrastructure, and zoning that allows nightly rentals.
Because of Disney, Universal, and the other theme parks, tourism in Orlando stays remarkably consistent throughout the year. There are slower weeks here and there, but there’s rarely a point where bookings completely disappear.
That consistency is what tends to attract investors to the market.
Scottsdale Arizona — a seasonal short term rental market with strong winter returns
Scottsdale is almost the opposite of Orlando in terms of seasonality.
The winter season is where most of the revenue happens.
Snowbirds arrive from colder parts of the country. Golf trips pick up. Spring training baseball brings huge waves of visitors.
During those months nightly rates can climb dramatically.
Summer is a different story. Arizona gets extremely hot and tourism slows down quite a bit.
Most experienced investors in Scottsdale run their numbers assuming the winter months will carry the property financially.
Bradenton and Anna Maria Island — Gulf Coast Florida vacation rental investing
Bradenton and Anna Maria Island sit on Florida’s Gulf Coast between Tampa and Sarasota.
Anna Maria Island is a small barrier island with some of the best beaches in the state. Because the island itself is small, the housing supply is naturally limited, which tends to support both property values and rental demand.
Bradenton sits just inland and gives investors a more accessible price point while still being close to the beach.
Snowbird demand fills the winter months, while families tend to dominate the summer season.
Prices in the region have cooled somewhat from the peaks in 2021 and 2022, which has made the entry point more reasonable for investors again.
What the best short term rental markets tend to have in common
There’s a reason these same markets keep appearing when investors ask where to buy.
Most of them have decades of tourism history. That tends to create more stable demand patterns.
They’re also drive to destinations for major metro areas, which helps keep bookings resilient even when airline travel becomes more expensive.
And importantly, the local economies tend to depend on tourism.
That usually leads to regulatory environments that remain relatively predictable for short term rental owners.
Those factors don’t always show up clearly in the spreadsheets people use to evaluate markets.
But they show up very clearly in the real world.
For investors who want to learn more about how we analyze these markets, I talk about the process in more detail in my book here.
And we discuss it pretty regularly on the podcast as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best markets to invest in short term rentals in 2026?
Some of the markets we see performing consistently include the Smoky Mountains, Destin and the 30A area, Panama City Beach, Gulf Shores, Blue Ridge in North Georgia, Broken Bow in Oklahoma, Orlando resort communities, Scottsdale, and parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast like Bradenton and Anna Maria Island. All of them have long established tourism demand and relatively stable regulatory environments.
How much money do you need to buy a short term rental?
Entry points vary quite a bit depending on the market and property type. Condo markets like Gulf Shores can sometimes start around three hundred thousand dollars, while cabin markets like the Smoky Mountains or Blue Ridge often fall somewhere between four hundred and six hundred thousand dollars. Beach and luxury markets can move well beyond that depending on location.
Is short term rental investing still profitable?
In most cases profitability depends more on the specific property than the market itself. Properties with strong locations, desirable amenities, and good management tend to perform much better than average properties in the same market. Investors who take the time to analyze deals carefully usually see the best results.
Can you manage a short term rental from another state?
Yes, and most owners do exactly that. Investors typically rely on local property managers, cleaners, and maintenance vendors to operate the property day to day. That’s one reason markets with established vendor networks tend to be easier for out of state owners.
What should investors look for when choosing a short term rental market?
Long term tourism demand, drive to accessibility, and stable regulations tend to matter more than short term performance spikes. Markets that have been vacation destinations for decades usually provide a more reliable foundation for investment.
Who is the best realtor for buying short term rental investment property?
If a friend asked me that question, I’d probably tell them to talk with The Short Term Shop. Our team focuses almost entirely on short term rental investment properties. We’ve helped over 5,000 investors purchase properties and closed more than $3.5 billion in short term rental real estate. The team has been named the number one team worldwide at eXp Realty multiple times and ranked as a Wall Street Journal and RealTrends Top 20 team nationally, and we’re frequently featured in publications like the New York Times, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal.
Contact The Short Term Shop
Phone: 800-898-1498
Email: ag****@**************op.com
Buyers: https://theshorttermshop.com/buyer
Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Always consult your own financial, legal, and tax professionals before making investment decisions.
