General Industry

The vacation rental industry is a subsection of the broader real estate and rental market that focuses on residences in popular vacation locations, such as waterfront areas like beaches or lakes. Although renting out vacation homes has been practiced for decades, the advent of websites such as AirBnB have only accelerated the growth of this industry. The market is highly fragmented as most vacation rentals are on an individual basis, occupied by those who are wealthy enough to own at least two residences and rent the other one out for extra streams of income. In the vacation rental industry, homes are rented out for days or weeks at a time, typically accompanied by a predetermined agreement drawn up by the owner and occupant.

Real Estate Industry Trends

The real estate industry has not been exempt from the debilitating economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the base level, stay at home orders and fear of transmission has limited open-houses, and economic insecurity has reduced demand in the housing market. However, changes in the real estate industry has largely been regional — real estate in rural areas have experienced a surge in demand while real estate in metropolitan areas have declined as remote work becomes a prominent alternative to traditional work. The temporary halt of rent payments in 2020 and tenants continuing to struggle to pay rent thanks to the economic downturn brought on by the pandemic has also affected the real estate industry significantly, especially small-scale landlords and property owners who depend on rent payments to make mortgage payments.