Bend ranks in top 5 in nation for Airbnbs per capita

Nearly 1,700 listings per 50K Bend residents

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Bend is known for having lots of tourists, and a new study reveals just how many of those tourists might be staying in Airbnb rentals: a lot.

The study released Wednesday shows Bend as the number 4 city for most properties per capita. There are nearly 1,700 listed homes and rooms for every 50,000 Bend residents.

The financial company IPX 1031 commissioned the study to find out where to stay in certain cities and where to invest.

Airbnb allows property owners to rent out their properties to guests all over the country. In order for someone in Bend to rent their house out on Airbnb, they must go through the city's short-term rental program.

First, they must get a land use permit requirement, then apply for a short-term rental operating license by paying a $275 fee.

The data included Sunriver as a part of Bend. Any entire home, private room or shared house was included in the data. A total of 92% of the Airbnb listings in Bend were for entire homes.

According to Tricia Harte, an outreach manager at Digital Third Coast, the company that conducted the study, Airbnbs in the Bend area have been steadily increasing in the last couple of years.

“We looked at the data for the past couple years and the number of Airbnbs in Bend has grown about 36 percent over the past two years,” Harte said.

Kevney Dugan, president of Visit Bend, said Airbnbs can be more fitting for many of the Bend tourists.

“When you look at people coming to Bend, they are bringing bikes and kayaks and those sorts of things,” Dugan said. “Airbnbs tend to suit that a little bit better than a traditional hotel.”

The study used the short-term analytics database AirDNA. Data was analyzed from more than 750 cities across the country.

Florida seems to be the most popular destination, as the four other cities in the top five are in the Sunshine State: Miami at nearly 3,500 listings, Kissimmee close to 2,900, Sarasota at about 2,200 and Daytona Beach just above 1,000 listings.