The saying goes, if there is money to be made, someone will do it.
If that’s the case, Scottsdale’s lucrative short-term rental industry isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
That’s because a report from the Wealth of Geeks financial website shows Scottsdale is the most profitable city in the country to run an Airbnb short-term rental.
The average cost per night to rent an Airbnb in Scottsdale is $449. That’s 55.9% of the average weekly wage of $804 in the city, according to the study.
That amounts to big business considering city officials have estimated there are somewhere between 4,105 and 5,039 short-term rentals in Scottsdale, with about 70% in south Scottsdale.
Scottsdale is followed by Tempe and Charleston, S.C., in second place in the study, with the average night stay coming in at 50% of the average weekly salary.
Phoenix came in third at 47.9%.
In fact, Arizona has 10 cities in the top 20 listed in the report.
“It’s clear to see by the numbers that Arizona is a hub for vacationers, reflected in the fact the prices appear to be in the higher bracket compared to cities in other states,” Wealth of Geeks founder Michale Dinich said in a written statement. “The ability for residents to earn over half their weekly salary from renting out a property for a single night is impressive, not to mention, an extremely convenient way to earn extra income – it’s much easier than time-consuming second jobs or side hustles.”
The high rates are good news for Airbnb hosts, but may be a little frustrating to Scottsdale City Council members, who have been trying to reign in problems created in the city’s neighborhoods by short-term rentals, such as nuisance parties, for years.
“I think we all know it’s very much an uphill battle to get any very significant regulations where we limit the number of units that are on a block in a neighborhood or even the whole city,” Scottsdale City Council Member Betty Janik said.
The problem is the state Legislature won’t allow cities to create tougher ordinances when it comes to short-term rentals, she said.
“I will be perfectly honest, I think that the short-term rental industry makes substantial donations to people with the state legislature in various fashions,” Janik said. “For that reason they are comfortable keeping all the short-term rentals, in addition to the fact they do bring in tax dollars.”
Scottsdale has beefed up its code enforcement team from nine code inspectors and two short-term rental contract positions to 12 code inspectors and two short-term rental inspectors. The police department’s short-term rental squad is also ramping up.
City staff have come up with six proposed ordinance changes to buckle down on vacation rentals without running afoul of state law. They are:
• Add promoters to those who are responsible for nuisance parties.
• Make it unlawful for attendees to stay on the property after police declare a party to be a nuisance.
• Make it illegal to hold an event at a short-term rental without a special event permit.
• Enhance enforcement of state liquor laws.
• Ban people under 18 from renting a vacation rental.
• Changing the total number of people allowed on a property (occupant load) and force excess people to leave.
But Janik doesn’t realistically see any more work done on the proposed changes until after the first of the year, after the election for three council seats and the mayor’s position.
“I mean we’re working on it and we all want it,” Janik said. “We’ve had our attorneys working diligently … (but) with everything else going on, I have a feeling it’s going to be something that comes up in January or maybe February.”
Original article can be found here.
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