Airbnb vs Long-Term Rental Calculator NZ
This calculator weighs up whether short-stay letting on Airbnb or a standard long-term tenancy earns you more from a rental property in New Zealand, once the hidden costs of each are accounted for. A high nightly rate looks tempting next to a modest weekly rent, but short stays bring cleaning between guests, furnishing, higher power and internet use, platform commission, and vacant nights between bookings, while long-term renting carries its own costs for management, maintenance and turnover. You enter your expected short-stay nightly rate and occupancy percentage, short-stay costs as a share of income, the weekly rent a long-term tenant would pay, and long-term costs as a share of that rent. The calculator multiplies the nightly rate by occupancy across the year for short-stay gross income, applies your cost percentage for a net figure, and does the same for the annual long-term rent after its own costs. It then shows which option delivers the higher net income per year, alongside the short-stay net and long-term net side by side, so you can see the gap in dollars. Because occupancy and cost assumptions can shift the result either way, test a few scenarios rather than relying on one set of numbers, and remember that short-stay letting takes far more of your time and carries its own tax and council obligations. This is an indicative estimate only, not financial or tax advice.
A simplified comparison. Short-stay costs (cleaning, furnishing, power, platform fees, higher insurance/rates) are entered as a share of income; long-term costs cover management, maintenance and vacancy. Short-stay also takes far more of your time and has tax and council rules. Estimate only, not financial or tax advice.
How it works
The calculator works out short-stay gross income as the nightly rate times occupancy across the year, then subtracts your short-stay cost percentage for cleaning, furnishing, power and platform fees. It compares that with long-term rent across 52 weeks, less your long-term cost percentage for management, maintenance and vacancy. The higher net figure is the better earner on the numbers, before you weigh the extra time and the rules short-stay involves.
Worked example
At $220 a night and 65% occupancy, short-stay gross is about $52,200 a year; after 40% costs, around $31,300 net. A $650 weekly long-term rent is $33,800 a year; after 15% costs, about $28,700 net. Here short-stay edges ahead, but for far more effort, and a lower occupancy would flip it.
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- Mixed-Use Holiday Rental Calculator: short-stay tax.
- Holiday Home Cost Calculator: holiday home costs.
- Airbnb and Holiday Home Tax: the background to this calculation.
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- Healthy Homes Compliance Cost Calculator NZ 2026: Landlord Standards.