Rental arbitrage calculator

Rental arbitrage means renting a home on a long lease and hosting it as a short-term rental. Enter the rent, bills and setup cost and the bookings you plan for, and see the monthly profit and how long the furniture and setup take to pay back. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

What you pay

Rent to the landlord per month ($) Utilities + internet per month ($) Insurance and other per month ($) Furnishing and setup, one-off ($)

What you plan to earn

Nightly rate ($) Occupancy % Nights in the month Average nights per stay Cleaning fee charged per stay ($) Cleaning + supplies per stay ($) Platform host fee % Co-host / management fee %

Check your lease and your local short-term rental rules before you start: you need the landlord's written permission and any licence your area requires. The occupancy you enter is your own estimate, not a forecast.

How it works

Booked nights = occupancy × nights in the month. Stays = booked nights ÷ nights per stay. Gross = rate × booked nights + cleaning fee × stays. Payout = gross − platform fee. Monthly profit = payout − co-host fee − per-stay costs × stays − rent − bills − other. Payback = setup cost ÷ monthly profit.

Worked example (the values above, fictional): 60% of 30 nights is 18 booked nights, or 6 stays of 3 nights. Guests pay 18 × $140 = $2,520.00 plus 6 × $80 = $480.00: $3,000.00. The 3% platform fee is $90.00, so the payout is $2,910.00. Turnovers cost 6 × $95 = $570.00 and the monthly bills $1,600 + $250 + $60 = $1,910.00, leaving $430.00 a month. The $6,000 setup takes $6,000 ÷ $430 = 13.95, so about 14 months to pay back, so the first 12 months end $840.00 down (12 × $430 − $6,000), a first-year cash return of 86.0% on the setup ($5,160 ÷ $6,000) before it is paid back.

Test a lower occupancy before you sign a lease: at 45% the same unit loses $155.00 a month. Compare with the break-even nightly rate. See also all calculators.