Home · Resource Center · Medium-term rentals
A medium-term rental is a furnished stay of about 1 to 12 months. It pays more only when the higher rate survives vacancy, utilities, and turns. On this site's published short-term versus long-term example, the annual lease beats the nightly case by a few hundred dollars. A furnished monthly case can beat both or lose to both. The rate and the filled months decide it.
By RentalAnalytics Editorial Team · Published October 19, 2026
It is a furnished booking from one month to about a year. BiggerPockets' 2022 Q&A points to traveling nurses, placements, and relocating guests, listed on Airbnb and Furnished Finder or booked direct. The author sketches short-term near twice market rent and medium-term near 1.5 times, and says some direct contracts match a short-term booking. BiggerPockets, "Common Questions About Medium-Term Rentals, Answered"
That 1.5 times is a 2022 rule of thumb. The article says to check current asking rents. This site does not publish a medium-term rent. The tool's HUD and Census numbers are long-term rents.
It shows two annual remainders. Nights booked are 365 times occupancy, times your nightly rate. Platform fees, cleaning per stay, and management come off that lodging. Long-term rent is monthly rent times 12, then vacancy, then management. Taxes, insurance, HOA, and other costs come off both.
The form opens on a worked example:
The page prints the math. Booked nights are 219 and lodging is $38,325. Platform fees are $1,149.75, cleaning on 73 stays is $8,760, and management is $7,435.05. Income after those items is $20,980.20, then $13,480.20 after the $7,500.
Long-term gross is $24,828. After 5% vacancy, $23,586.60. After 8% management, $21,699.67. Remainder, $14,199.67. Long-term leads by $719.47 on these inputs. Change the nightly rate, occupancy, or the prefilled rent and the lead can flip. You can edit the long-term field. How to analyze short-term rental cash flow states the limit: HUD and ACS are not a nightly rate and not occupancy.
Keep the tool's shared costs and add what a 12-month lease usually leaves with the tenant: furniture, and often the utilities. Cleaning is once per stay, not 73 times.
The rates below are a hypothetical example beside the published ZIP, not a survey. Shared costs stay $7,500. Utilities are $200 a month, or $2,400 a year. Cleaning is $150 per departure. Management is 10% of collected furnished rent, inside the 8% to 12% NARPM called typical in its April 2026 FTC letter. NARPM letter (PDF)
What that 8% to 12% does across a year of collected rent is covered in What Do Property Managers Charge and Is It Worth It?.
On the 10-month row, two empty months are the vacancy. Do not subtract a second vacancy percent.
| Stay pattern | Rate collected | Gross | Management at 10% | Cleaning | Utilities | Remainder after $7,500 shared |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 occupied months, two turns | $3,100 a month | $31,000 | $3,100 | $300 | $2,400 | $17,700 |
| One 12-month furnished stay | $2,800 a month | $33,600 | $3,360 | $150 | $2,400 | $20,190 |
| Two 6-month stays, no gap | $3,200 a month | $38,400 | $3,840 | $300 | $2,400 | $24,360 |
Remainder is gross minus management, cleaning, utilities, and $7,500. The 10-month line is $31,000 − $3,100 − $300 − $2,400 − $7,500 = $17,700.
Every row above beats $13,480.20 and $14,199.67. Drop that 10-month rate to $2,400 and gross is $24,000, management is $2,400, and the remainder is $24,000 − $2,400 − $300 − $2,400 − $7,500 = $11,400. That loses to both. The rate and the filled months decide it.
The ACS $2,069 is a long-term median, so do not paste it in as the furnished rate. One six-month stay is one departure clean, not 73. Put any placement-agency cut in the model. A direct contract with no manager is 0%. Furniture is cash the annual lease does not carry: $8,000 of setup takes the $17,700 first-year figure to $9,700.
The one the city lets you run at the occupancy in the model. Airbnb rules by city covers two strict cases. Los Angeles caps home-sharing of a primary residence at 120 days a year for stays of 30 consecutive days or less, unless you hold extended approval. New York City treats a stay under 30 consecutive days as short-term, and unhosted entire-unit stays of that length are not allowed in permanent residential buildings.
A 120-night cap makes the tool's 60% example the wrong nightly case. A 30-night minimum is how some operators step outside those rules. An ordinary lease skips furniture and owner-paid utilities, and on the published inputs it already leads by $719.47.
Hold the fixed bills still and swap the income stack.
Then move one input. Two empty months shift the remainder more than one point of fee.
A furnished stay of about 1 to 12 months, longer than a few nights and shorter than a standard annual lease. The lease and the city rule control the label.
No. It prices nights you type and a long-term rent from ACS or HUD FMR. Enter the furnished rate yourself, on the same tax and insurance dollars.
Long-term, by $719.47: $14,199.67 versus $13,480.20 on ZIP 78704, 2 bedrooms. A different rate or occupancy can flip it.
Yes at a high enough rate. Ten months at $3,100 leaves $17,700 in the example. Ten months at $2,400 leaves $11,400 and loses. Year-one furniture is extra.
Stays under 30 days are often the regulated product. Los Angeles caps many home-shares at 120 days for stays of 30 consecutive days or less. New York City's short-term rules apply under 30 consecutive days, and unhosted entire homes of that length are not allowed in permanent residential buildings.
No. Months you do not collect are the vacancy. On the tool, short-term vacancy is inside occupancy, and long-term vacancy is its own field.
More on RentalAnalytics → all articles · all tools · city reports