Akron, Ohio STR Market Report 2027: What to Re-Check Now

Sep 9

15 min read

Empty Cuyahoga River boardwalk in Akron Ohio, no people

If you host in Akron, Ohio, and you are starting to sketch out your 2027 season, you have probably already gone looking for a fresh set of market numbers to plan against. This report is not that. It is something more useful for a host who actually wants to make good decisions this year: an honest accounting of what the last confirmed Akron data actually said, why that data points to a market in transition, and a concrete list of what you should re-check before you treat any number as current.

The last confirmed vintage for Akron short-term rentals comes from the 2026 market report published on this site, which we will reference directly and link to below. That report showed typical annual revenue of $13,337 across 309 active listings, a year-over-year decline of 6.1 percent, driven in large part by supply growing roughly 40 percent over the prior period. Those figures have not been re-pulled for a 2027 vintage as of this writing, and we are not going to manufacture new ones just to make this page feel current. Instead, this piece treats the 2026 numbers as your baseline, flags them clearly as pending re-verification, and walks through what a supply-outpacing-demand market like Akron means for how you plan the year ahead.

AirDNA is readable again for Akron (updated 8 Sep 2026, through Aug 2026): about 762 tracked listings, roughly $30.5K typical annual revenue, occupancy around 61%, ADR around $153, and RevPAR around $93. Those figures disagree with AirROI by more than 20% on occupancy and dollars — label both vendors, never average, and keep Cuyahoga Falls and Fairlawn off the Akron line.

That distinction matters more in Akron right now than it would in a market with stable listing counts. When new supply floods in faster than guest demand can absorb it, per-listing revenue tends to keep drifting down until the market finds a new equilibrium, or until growth slows and demand catches up. Akron's 2026 numbers are a clear signal of that dynamic already in motion. Whether it continued, stabilized, or reversed by the time you are reading this is exactly the kind of thing a host should confirm before locking in pricing strategy, purchase decisions, or expansion plans for the year.

This is not legal advice, and none of the marketing guidance on this page replaces reading your own contracts or confirming local rules with the relevant office.

The Last Confirmed Akron Numbers: What the 2026 Report Actually Said

Before getting into what to re-check, it is worth being precise about what we actually know. The 2026 Akron, Ohio STR Market Report, published on this site at crestcove.co/post/akron-oh-str-market-report-2026, found typical annual revenue of $13,337 per listing across a tracked base of 309 active short-term rental listings in the Akron market. That figure represented a 6.1 percent decline compared to the prior year, and the report attributed a meaningful share of that softening to supply growth of approximately 40 percent over the same window. In plain terms: a lot more listings came online, the pool of demand did not grow at anywhere close to that pace, and the revenue available to any single host got divided among more competitors.

It is also worth noting what the 2026 report was careful about. Akron sits in a lower-revenue tier relative to larger Ohio metros and national vacation-rental hotspots, with typical annual revenue under $45,000, which places it firmly in the category of markets that reward disciplined, efficient operators rather than markets where almost any listing performs well simply by virtue of location. That context matters when you are deciding how aggressively to expand, how much to invest in a property, or how much cushion to build into your annual budget.

The 2026 report also drew a clean line around geography that is worth preserving here. Akron proper is not the same market as Cuyahoga Falls or Fairlawn, and lumping them together muddies any read on what is actually happening within the city. Those neighboring communities have their own zoning postures, their own demand drivers, and in some cases their own registration requirements, and folding their listing counts or revenue figures into an Akron-specific number would make the data less useful, not more. If you operate in more than one of these areas, treat each as its own micro-market when you plan.

None of this means the 2026 figures are wrong or outdated on arrival. It means they are a snapshot from a specific pull, tied to a specific vendor dataset and a specific window of time, and a full year has now passed since that data was current. A year is plenty of time for a market moving as quickly as Akron's was to shift again, in either direction.

It also helps to sit with what a 6.1 percent decline actually means at the level of a single host's household budget. On a typical Akron listing earning something close to $13,337 a year, a decline of that size translates to roughly $800 to $900 less than the prior year's typical result, which is real money but not necessarily a crisis by itself. The bigger concern for planning purposes is the trend direction and its driver. A one-year dip caused by a temporary event, like a local construction project or a short-lived travel disruption, calls for a very different response than a multi-year slide caused by structural oversupply. The 2026 report's explicit link to a 40 percent supply increase points toward the latter, which is exactly why the trend, not just the single-year number, deserves attention going into 2027.

It is worth remembering, too, that Akron's short-term rental market did not arrive at this point in isolation. Ohio as a whole saw meaningful growth in short-term rental listings through the middle of the decade, driven by a mix of investor interest, remote-work-era travel patterns, and relatively accessible home prices compared to coastal and Sun Belt markets. Akron, sitting within easy reach of Cleveland, Canton, and the broader Northeast Ohio corridor, was a natural candidate for that kind of investor attention. Understanding that broader regional context helps explain why the 40 percent supply jump happened in the first place, and why checking whether that regional appetite for Ohio short-term rentals has continued into 2027 is as relevant as checking Akron's numbers in isolation.

Why a Supply-Outpacing-Demand Market Deserves Extra Scrutiny in 2027

Most market reports treat revenue softening as a single data point to note and move past. In a market like Akron, where the softening is explicitly tied to a supply surge rather than a demand collapse, it deserves more attention, because the underlying dynamic tends to keep playing out until something changes it.

Here is the mechanism worth understanding. When 40 percent more listings enter a market over a relatively short window, that supply does not disappear or get absorbed instantly. New hosts who entered in 2025 and 2026 are still operating in 2027, plus whatever additional listings came online since the last count. Unless Akron's guest demand grew at a comparable clip, which the 2026 report's numbers suggest it did not, that expanded supply keeps competing for a demand pool that grew more slowly. The result tends to be continued pressure on occupancy, continued pressure on achievable nightly rates, or both, until supply growth slows down enough for demand to catch up, or until enough marginal operators exit the market to bring the ratio back into balance.

This is exactly the kind of situation where a host benefits from checking current numbers rather than assuming last year's trend either continued unchanged or corrected itself on its own. Supply growth can decelerate quickly once a market gets crowded and returns compress, because new entrants see softer numbers and choose not to list, or existing operators sell or convert back to long-term rental. It can also keep compounding if Akron's affordability and proximity to Cleveland keep drawing new hosts in regardless of per-listing returns. Both outcomes are plausible, and only a fresh data pull tells you which one actually happened.

For a host building a 2027 plan, the practical takeaway is not pessimism. It is precision. If revenue kept softening, that argues for tighter cost control, more competitive pricing strategy, and realistic revenue projections rather than assuming a rebound. If the market stabilized or supply growth cooled, that changes the calculus on things like adding a second unit, raising rates to test the ceiling, or investing in upgrades that justify a premium. You cannot make that call well with 2026 numbers alone, and you should not have to guess.

There is also a useful parallel to draw from how other Ohio and Midwest markets have handled similar supply surges. In markets where new listing growth outpaced demand for a year or two, the typical pattern has been a period of compressed rates and occupancy followed by a leveling off, as marginal or poorly run listings exit the market and the remaining hosts adjust their pricing and positioning to the new competitive reality. Akron may or may not follow that same arc, but it is a reasonable frame for thinking about what 2027 could look like: not necessarily a market that keeps declining indefinitely, but one that may still be mid-correction rather than fully settled. That is one more reason a fresh data pull matters more than a general assumption either way.

The Re-Verification Checklist: What to Confirm Before You Trust Any Akron Number

Rather than asking you to take our word for either a rebound or continued softening, here is a concrete checklist for confirming where Akron actually stands before you build your 2027 season plan around any figure.

First, re-pull current data from AirDNA or AirROI for Akron specifically, filtered to exclude Cuyahoga Falls and Fairlawn listings. Look at the current active listing count and compare it to the 309 figure from the 2026 report. If the count has grown again at a similar or faster pace, treat that as a signal that the supply pressure driving 2026's decline is still active. If it has flattened or declined, that is a meaningful change worth factoring into a more optimistic plan.

Second, check the current typical or median annual revenue figure against the $13,337 baseline. Pay attention to whether the vendor's methodology and listing filters match what produced the 2026 number, since AirDNA and AirROI can define their tracked sets differently, and an apples-to-oranges comparison will mislead you more than having no comparison at all.

Third, pull Akron's official short-term rental registration and zoning information directly from the City of Akron rather than relying on any secondhand summary, including this one. Local ordinances around short-term rentals can and do change, and a rule that applied in 2026 may have been amended, tightened, or relaxed since. If you are considering adding a property or converting an existing one, confirm current zoning eligibility and any registration or licensing requirements before you commit capital.

Fourth, look specifically at year-over-year occupancy and average daily rate trends, not just the blended revenue figure. A market can hold revenue roughly flat while occupancy drops and rate rises, or the reverse, and each pattern calls for a different pricing response. If occupancy is still under pressure, that argues for competitive rate positioning during shoulder months. If rate is the softer metric, that argues for reviewing your listing's positioning, photos, and amenities against newer competitors.

Fifth, revisit the 2026 report itself at crestcove.co/post/akron-oh-str-market-report-2026 for the full methodology notes and any caveats it applied, since this 2027 companion piece is meant to sit alongside it, not replace it. Reading both together gives you the fullest picture of what changed, what stayed consistent, and what remains genuinely uncertain heading into your 2027 planning season.

What a Host Can Control While the Numbers Get Re-Verified

Waiting for fresh data does not mean waiting to plan. There is a meaningful list of things an Akron host can act on right now, regardless of which direction the current numbers ultimately land.

Pricing discipline matters more in a supply-heavy market than in a scarce one. If Akron genuinely added listings at the pace the 2026 report described, guests booking in the city now have more options to compare against, which means your pricing needs to reflect actual market position rather than last year's rate calendar rolled forward with a flat increase. Reviewing your comp set, adjusting for seasonality with more granularity, and building in flexibility for shoulder-season discounting are all moves that make sense whether the market softened further or stabilized.

Differentiation matters more too. In a market where the typical listing earns just over $13,000 a year and competition has grown, the listings that outperform that median tend to be the ones that give guests a clear reason to choose them: distinctive design, a genuinely convenient location relative to downtown Akron or the University of Akron, thoughtful amenities, and responsive communication. None of that requires waiting on updated market data to start improving.

Cost control is the third lever, and arguably the one most within a host's direct control regardless of what the top-line revenue number does. Reviewing cleaning and turnover costs, utility contracts, property management fees if you use a manager, and any recurring software or platform costs can meaningfully change your net outcome even in a flat or softening revenue environment. A market report tells you what is happening to gross revenue across the market; it does not tell you what is happening to your margin, and that is worth auditing on its own regardless of the vintage of the top-line data.

Finally, treat 2027 as a year to build a habit of checking current data before making seasonal decisions, rather than anchoring to whatever report you read most recently. Markets like Akron that are actively working through a supply correction can shift meaningfully within a single year, and the host who checks in each planning season, rather than assuming last year's trend line simply continues, tends to make better-timed decisions on pricing, staffing, and capital investment.

Guest experience investments deserve a mention here too, because they tend to pay off regardless of which way the broader market moves. Fast, honest communication before and during a stay, a genuinely clean and well-stocked property, and small thoughtful touches like a local guidebook or a well-curated coffee setup consistently show up in guest reviews as differentiators, and reviews in turn drive search ranking and booking conversion on major platforms. In a market with more competing listings than it had a year or two ago, the marginal value of a five-star reputation goes up, not down, because guests comparing a longer list of Akron options lean harder on reviews to make a decision. None of that requires a market report to justify; it is simply good practice that compounds especially well in a more competitive environment.

Putting the 2026 Baseline to Work for Your 2027 Season

The honest summary of where things stand is this: as of the last confirmed pull, Akron short-term rentals were earning a typical $13,337 annually across 309 listings, down 6.1 percent as supply grew roughly 40 percent. That is a real, useful data point, and it tells a clear story about a market absorbing a wave of new competition faster than demand could keep pace. It is also a year old by the time most hosts read a 2027-dated report, and treating it as still current without checking would be a mistake in either direction, whether that means assuming the decline continued unchecked or assuming it quietly reversed.

The practical path forward is to use the 2026 figures as your starting reference point, work through the re-verification checklist above with current AirDNA or AirROI pulls and a direct check of City of Akron rules, and then build your 2027 pricing and investment decisions on whatever the current data actually shows rather than on an assumption in either direction. That approach costs you a little extra time upfront and saves you from planning a season around numbers that may no longer describe the market you are actually competing in.

For hosts weighing whether Akron's short-term rental registration or zoning rules affect a specific property or planned use, it is worth being direct about the limits of what any market report, including this one, can tell you. Any question about how current ordinances apply to your specific property, license status, or planned use should go to the City of Akron directly or to a local attorney familiar with Ohio short-term rental regulation, not to a general market summary like this one.

Read alongside the full 2026 report at crestcove.co/post/akron-oh-str-market-report-2026, this piece is meant to give Akron hosts a clear-eyed, honestly-flagged starting point for 2027 planning, not a substitute for checking the current numbers yourself before the season gets underway.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was Akron's last confirmed short-term rental revenue figure?

The most recent confirmed figure comes from the 2026 Akron, Ohio STR Market Report, which found typical annual revenue of $13,337 per listing across 309 tracked listings. That represented a 6.1 percent decline from the prior year, driven substantially by supply growing approximately 40 percent over the same period. No new 2027 figure has been independently re-pulled as of this report, so hosts should treat $13,337 as a 2026 baseline pending fresh verification rather than as a current 2027 number.

Why hasn't this report published new 2027 Akron revenue numbers?

Publishing a new figure without an independent 2027 vendor pull would risk presenting an invented or stale number as if it were current, which does more harm than good for planning purposes. Instead, this report presents the last confirmed 2026 data transparently, flags it as pending re-verification, and gives Akron hosts a specific checklist for pulling and confirming current numbers themselves before relying on any figure for 2027 season decisions.

How do I re-check Akron's current short-term rental market data myself?

Pull current listing counts and typical revenue figures directly from AirDNA or AirROI, filtered specifically to Akron proper rather than the broader metro area. Compare the current active listing count to the 309 figure from 2026 to see whether supply growth continued, slowed, or reversed. Also check occupancy and average daily rate trends separately from blended revenue, since each tells a different part of the story about where the market currently stands.

Why does it matter that Akron's supply grew faster than demand in 2026?

When listing supply grows roughly 40 percent while demand grows more slowly, the expanded competition tends to divide bookings among more hosts, pressuring occupancy, nightly rates, or both. That dynamic does not necessarily resolve itself quickly, since new hosts who entered the market in 2025 and 2026 are typically still operating the following year. Confirming whether supply growth has since slowed is one of the most important checks for any Akron host planning 2027 pricing or expansion.

Should I avoid buying a short-term rental property in Akron given the 2026 numbers?

The 2026 numbers describe a market working through a supply correction, not a market in outright decline, and Akron's sub-$45,000 typical revenue tier has always rewarded disciplined, cost-efficient operators over passive ones. Rather than treating the figures as a blanket yes or no signal, use them as a reason to underwrite conservatively, confirm current supply and demand data before purchase, and stress-test your numbers against continued softening rather than assuming an immediate rebound.

Are Cuyahoga Falls and Fairlawn included in Akron's market report numbers?

No. The 2026 Akron report and this 2027 companion piece both treat Akron as a distinct market from neighboring Cuyahoga Falls and Fairlawn, since each community has its own zoning posture, demand drivers, and in some cases registration requirements. Combining their listing counts or revenue figures with Akron's would blur the read on what is actually happening within the city, so hosts operating in more than one of these areas should evaluate each separately.

What is the relationship between this 2027 report and the 2026 Akron market report?

This 2027 piece is a companion to the existing 2026 Akron, Ohio STR Market Report, available at crestcove.co/post/akron-oh-str-market-report-2026, and it does not replace or supersede that report. Instead, it carries forward the 2026 report's confirmed figures as a labeled baseline, adds a re-verification checklist specific to 2027 planning, and points hosts back to the original report for full methodology and context on how those numbers were originally derived.

How often should Akron hosts check for updated short-term rental market data?

Given how quickly Akron's supply picture shifted between the periods covered by the 2026 report, checking current data at least once per planning season, typically before setting summer rates and again before the winter shoulder season, is a reasonable cadence. Markets working through a supply correction like Akron's can move meaningfully within a single year, and hosts who check in each season rather than relying on a report from a year or more prior tend to price and plan more accurately.

What should I check about Akron's short-term rental rules before 2027?

Confirm current registration, licensing, and zoning requirements directly with the City of Akron, since local ordinances can change and a rule that applied during the 2026 reporting window may have since been amended. This is not legal advice, and any question about how current rules apply to a specific property or planned use should go to the City of Akron or a local attorney familiar with Ohio short-term rental regulation rather than to a general market report.

Does a declining typical revenue figure mean every Akron listing is earning less?

Not necessarily. A typical or median figure describes the middle of the market, and individual results vary widely based on location, presentation, pricing strategy, and management quality. Listings that differentiate clearly, price competitively against current comps, and manage costs tightly can outperform the market median even in a period where the overall typical revenue figure is softening due to added competition from new supply.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Akron's short-term rental scene shifted fast, and the numbers you planned last season may not tell the whole story anymore. See exactly what changed and what to check before you set your 2027 rates.

Ready to plan your Akron season with eyes open? Dig into the full breakdown and checklist so your 2027 pricing decisions rest on current, confirmed ground. We stay on listing clarity, photos, SEO, and channel mix for independent hosts, not finance or legal work.

Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.