Antiparos, Messini, Kythira Best Places to Invest in Short-term Rentals

Antiparos island. Photo © Maria Theofanopoulou

The tiny island of Antiparos, the city of Messini in the Peloponnese and Kythira in the Aegean sea, are considered the best places to invest in short-term rentals in Greece, as a sharp rise in revenue per available room (RevPAR) has been recorded at such properties on those destinations during the last two years.

Kythira island. Photo © vlas2000 / Shutterstock

According to data released by AirDNA for the July 2016 – June 2018 period, Antiparos has seen a 105 percent growth in RevPAR, with the number of active Airbnb listings reaching 187 on the island.

Furthermore, the RevPAR of short-term rentals in Messini grew by 84 percent in a total of 181 active listings, while on Kythira the RevPAR increased by 71 percent in 217 properties.

“Destinations that attract mass tourism are not necessarily the ‘hottest’ short-term rental markets in Greece right now. If Airbnb hosts, vacation rental managers or tour operators want to identify up-and-coming trends and gaps in the market, these destinations would be the markets to consider. The markets are both small – with little competition – and growing fast in popularity,” a spokesperson at AirDNA told GTP Headlines.

AirDNA’s Top 10 list also includes Serifos, Trifilia in the Peloponnese, Kea, Igoumenitsa, Istiea Edipsos, Ikaria and Katerini.

These areas have a small number of active Airbnb properties, which however have proven to be lucrative as the RevPAR for the aforementioned period rose by 42-60 percent.

Serifos Island Cyclades Greece / © Maria Theofanopoulou

Top 20 cities with the highest number of listings

As the short-term rental market in Greece is on the rise, the number of properties has been increasing especially at popular tourism destinations. Crete, Athens and Corfu are on top of AirDNA’s list of cities with the highest number of active listings.

Crete ranks first with 15,552 properties, followed by Athens with 8,826, Corfu with 4,196, Santorini with 3,173 and Mykonos with 2,968.

The figures refer to Airbnb listings that had at least one reservation or one available day in the month (August 2018).

US-based AirDNA is a leading provider of short-term rental data and analytics with offices in Denver and Barcelona. By tracking the daily performance of over 4,500,000 Airbnb listings across 65,000 markets worldwide, AirDNA data products feature data on occupancy rates, seasonal demand, and revenue generated by short-term rentals.