Buying a Pacific City, Oregon Rental: What This Year's Numbers Support

Jacob Mishalanie
Aug 21
7 min read

Updated: 18 hours ago

Empty coastal kitchen interior, Pacific City lodging, no people

Pacific City, Oregon short-term rentals earned an average of $40,828 in the trailing twelve months from August 2025 through July 2026, across a sample of 286 active listings tracked by AirROI. The average nightly rate was $363, occupancy ran 35.4%, and revenue per available night (RevPAR) came in at $141. Revenue was down 4.7% year over year, while active supply held essentially flat at 0.0% growth. Those are the numbers to underwrite for this year, on this town , not a blend with the town next door.

Seasonality follows the coast: August, June, and July are the three strongest months, February is the slowest, and January posts the weakest occupancy. Most guests travel in from Portland, then Bend. The typical stay runs 3.4 nights, booked about 60 days out , useful context if you're building a revenue calendar or setting a minimum-night policy for a new listing.

Cape Kiwanda is the draw, and it's also the reason people mix up Pacific City with neighboring Oceanside , the two towns share a coastline but not a permitting desk. Pacific City is unincorporated, so short-term rental licensing runs through Tillamook County Community Development at 1510-B Third Street, Tillamook, OR 97141, not a city hall. A specific 2026 license fee wasn't published as a single confirmed number on the county's primary page during this research pass , call the office directly before you budget for it rather than guessing.

What Lenders See When You Run DSCR on $40,828

A debt-service coverage ratio (DSCR) loan qualifies a rental purchase on the property's income rather than the buyer's personal income, so the $40,828 median revenue figure is exactly the kind of number an underwriter will ask for. On this sample, that $40,828 came with a $141 RevPAR and 35.4% occupancy across 286 listings , enough listings to be a reasonable market read, but still a sample, not a certified rent roll. Bring the AirROI extract, the date range (August 2025 through July 2026), and the listing count alongside the revenue figure. A dollar amount without that context is the first thing an experienced DSCR lender will push back on.

Why Oceanside's $34,813 Doesn't Belong in Your Pacific City Numbers

Oceanside, a separate town a few miles north, posted its own average of $34,813 across 97 listings over the same period. That's a real, useful number , for a property in Oceanside. If a lender, appraiser, or your own spreadsheet starts blending the two towns to pad the comp set, stop it there. Different permitting authority, different guest draw, different supply story. Keep Pacific City's $40,828 on 286 listings on one line and Oceanside's $34,813 on 97 listings on another, and the packet holds up to scrutiny instead of falling apart the first time someone asks which town actually produced the number.

Match the Comparison to the Parcel, Not a Market-Wide Average

Any comp you use should trace back to the parcel you're buying, not a scraped market average. Cape Kiwanda draws the guests, but it doesn't assign the tax lot, and it won't tell a county clerk which permitting desk applies. Pull the actual tax map and confirm which jurisdiction the parcel sits in before you finalize underwriting. As of this pass, neither a dedicated Pacific City short-term rental permit fee nor a single confirmed 2026 county license dollar amount was published in one place , treat any number you get informally as unconfirmed until the county or town office puts it in writing.

What a 4.7% Year-Over-Year Decline Actually Means

Revenue was down 4.7% year over year on this 286-listing sample , one data point, not a trend line, and not a reason to swap in Oceanside's healthier-looking number to smooth it over. A single-year decline this size is common in coastal leisure markets coming off a strong prior season; it doesn't by itself tell you whether the market is correcting or just breathing. Underwrite the year you can document , this one, on this town's listings , and treat next year as unknown rather than assuming a rebound or a further slide.

Supply Held Flat at 286 Listings , Here's Why That Matters

Active supply moved 0.0% year over year, holding at 286 listings while revenue still softened. That combination , flat supply, softer revenue , points toward demand cooling rather than new competition eating into individual listings' bookings. Worth knowing if you're buying: professionally managed listings make up 54.5% of the market, Superhosts hold a 57.3% share, and Kiwanda Coastal, a local property manager, operates 58 of the 286 listings , roughly one in five. That concentration is worth asking about if you're weighing self-management against handing the keys to a manager who already runs a fifth of the market.

Read the Listing Count as a Sample, Not a Census

286 listings is a workable sample for a market this size, but it's not every rental in Pacific City, and 169 of those listings carry a 30-night minimum stay , meaning they aren't really competing in the nightly and weekly booking window most buyers care about. Strip those out mentally when you're sizing the addressable short-term rental market. February is the slowest month by a wide margin; a vacancy assumption that accounts for a real February slowdown will hold up better in front of a lender than a packet that pretends occupancy is flat all year or borrows a neighboring town's stronger month to cover the gap.

Short-Term Rental Licenses Don't Transfer With the Deed

A short-term rental license is tied to the operator and the specific property's current registration, not to the sale , buying an existing rental almost never means inheriting its permit. Confirm requirements with Tillamook County Community Development before you assume you can list on day one of ownership; hours and requirements change, so call ahead rather than showing up expecting a walk-in approval. And confirm you're calling the right desk: if the property is in Pacific City, that's the county, not the Oceanside or Tillamook city offices , starting at the wrong counter is a common, avoidable delay.

What a Buyer Packet Should Carry

A buyer packet for this market should carry four things: this year's actual revenue ($40,828 on 286 listings, August 2025 through July 2026), a clear reference to Cape Kiwanda as the demand driver, confirmation of which permitting desk applies to the parcel, and a flat refusal to blend in another town's numbers to make the case look stronger. Visitor-spending data and tourism counts are not the same as debt-service coverage , don't let a lender or a broker substitute one for the other. If someone asks for a rosier coastal year than the one you can document, the honest answer is that you don't have one to give them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What revenue number should I use to underwrite a Pacific City rental?

Use $40,828 -- the average revenue across 286 active Pacific City listings for the trailing twelve months from August 2025 through July 2026 (AirROI). That period also posted a $363 average nightly rate, 35.4 percent occupancy, and $141 RevPAR. Bring the date range and listing count along with the dollar figure; a number without that context is the first thing a DSCR lender will question.

Should I average in Oceanside's numbers to get a bigger sample?

No. Oceanside is a separate town with its own $34,813 average across 97 listings over the same period, and its own permitting authority. Blending the two towns to create a bigger, better-looking sample misrepresents both markets. Keep Pacific City's $40,828 on 286 listings on its own line.

Does the Pacific City-Oceanside distinction matter for licensing, or just revenue?

Both. Pacific City is unincorporated, so short-term rental licensing runs through Tillamook County Community Development (1510-B Third Street, Tillamook, OR 97141), not a town hall. Confirm which jurisdiction your specific parcel falls under before assuming a license will transfer or that Oceanside's rules apply.

Is a 4.7% year-over-year revenue decline something to worry about?

It's one data point on one 286-listing sample, not a multi-year trend. Coastal leisure markets often see a pullback after a strong season without it signaling a lasting correction. Underwrite the documented year rather than assuming next year repeats it in either direction.

Why did supply stay flat at 286 listings, and does that matter?

Active supply moved 0.0 percent year over year while revenue softened slightly -- a sign demand cooled rather than new competition diluting existing listings. Worth noting: professionally managed listings hold a 54.5 percent share, Superhosts hold 57.3 percent, and one manager, Kiwanda Coastal, operates 58 of the 286 listings.

How reliable is a 286-listing sample for underwriting?

It's a reasonable market-level read, but not a census, and 169 of those 286 listings carry a 30-night minimum stay, which pulls them out of the typical nightly and weekly booking pool most buyers are evaluating. February is the slowest month by a clear margin, so build that into your vacancy assumption.

Do short-term rental licenses transfer when I buy an existing rental?

Generally no -- a license is tied to the operator and the property's current registration, not automatically to a new owner. Confirm requirements with Tillamook County Community Development before closing, and don't assume Pacific City and Oceanside share a permitting desk; they don't.

What should a buyer packet for a lender actually include?

This year's documented revenue ($40,828 on 286 listings, August 2025-July 2026), the Cape Kiwanda demand context, confirmation of the correct permitting authority for the parcel, and no blended numbers from Oceanside or any other neighboring market. If a lender asks for a stronger year than the one you can document, say so rather than inventing one.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

A Pacific City listing that borrows Oceanside's $34,813 average, or leans on a generic 'Oregon coast' caption instead of naming Cape Kiwanda, is describing a different town's guest.

We help Pacific City hosts write listing copy anchored to this town's own revenue figures and its Cape Kiwanda draw, not a blended coastal average. Send us the listing and we'll help you separate it from the neighboring town's story.

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