Analyzing Single Family Mid-Term Rental Markets
Where Mid-Term Rentals Are Dramatically Overrepresented in Local Housing Markets
We compared listings from the most popular online Mid-Term Rental platforms to our database of nationwide long term rental data to find differences in yields and supply.
Overview
What Are Mid-Term Rentals?
Mid-Term Rentals (MTRs) are fully furnished properties available for stays of 30 days or longer. Unlike short-term rental (STR) platforms like Airbnb or VRBO that cater to vacationers, Mid-Term Rental platforms primarily serve:
Traveling professionals (healthcare workers, travel nurses, corporate employees)
Academics and researchers
Relocating families
Digital nomads
These tenants typically need temporary housing for 1-6 months. MTR platforms connect property owners directly with qualified professionals seeking medium-duration, move-in-ready accommodations.
Why Is The Data Interesting?
Residential property owners face numerous options when generating returns on their investments:
High-turnover short-term rentals to travelers (Airbnb, VRBO)
Mid-term rentals to professionals and temporary residents
Long-term leases to permanent residents (traditional annual leases)
Mid-term rentals offer a compelling value proposition: higher yields than long-term rentals with significantly less operational overhead than short-term rentals—no daily turnovers, fewer regulatory restrictions, and more stable income. Our analysis helps investors evaluate which markets might be particularly suited to this rental strategy.
Analysis
Largest Markets by MTR Listings Count
New York and Los Angeles significantly lead the market, with more than double the listings of Boston, which ranks third. The steep drop-off after the top three markets indicates a concentration of mid-term rental inventory in major coastal cities, particularly those with strong healthcare, education, and business sectors.
Supply Differences
We looked at the difference in supply of single family properties being rented as mid-term rentals vs long term rentals and created a 0-100 index to visualize how the top 50 single family rental markets compare.
Comparing Sacramento, CA to Katy, TX helps illustrate why this difference in supply exists.
Sacramento, CA is a healthcare hub that has one of the highest rates of travel nurses in the country and has a housing stock that supports profitable mid-term rentals (small homes in the urban core near the healthcare jobs).
Katy, TX has a lot of institutional SFR activity because it’s a desirable suburb with above average income.
Markets With Greatest Opportunity
MTR premiums inversely correlate with supply saturation—less competition means higher returns.
Suburbs in Texas are overrepresented for markets most undersupplied while having strong premiums to long term rentals.
Long Term vs Mid-Term Rental Comparisons
Note: we attempted to standardize by both neighborhood and house size when comparing rental prices.
While major cities average a 30% MTR premium, individual markets vary dramatically.
Texas suburbs have very strong premiums on Mid-Term Rental prices.
For single family investors trying to find better yields, the top MTR markets may provide compelling premiums to enhance cash flow.
Interested in seeing any other cuts of Mid-Term Rental data? Send us a message!