Deer Isle STR Market Report 2026: $17,949, 77 Listings

Thomas Garner
17 hours ago
9 min read

Updated: 8 hours ago

Causeway Beach on Deer Isle, Penobscot Bay

Deer Isle, Maine does not need a borrowed Penobscot Bay caption to sell itself, and it does not need a borrowed neighbor's revenue figure either. The Town of Deer Isle, Hancock County, sits on a granite island connected to the mainland by a single bridge, and its short-term rental market has its own AirROI extract: a typical listing earned about $17,949 over the trailing twelve months through July 2026, from a sample of 77 active rentals. That figure was updated 2026-08-08 and it is specific to Deer Isle, not a regional average smeared across Stonington, Bar Harbor, or any other Hancock County address.

The number matters less as a headline than as a working file. An average night of $296 against 37.0 percent occupancy produces a typical year most owners can sanity-check against their own calendar. Revenue per available night lands at $113, which is the metric that actually explains why a modest occupancy rate still produces a real annual total: Deer Isle guests pay for a specific kind of quiet, granite-coast stay, and they pay a real rate for it even when the calendar has open weeks.

This report walks through what the extract says, what it does not say, how the year moved against last year, and which neighboring markets keep getting blended into Deer Isle's file by mistake. None of the numbers below are estimates dressed up as facts. They are the AirROI sample as published, with the caveats that come with any single-source, 77-listing extract.

Read this alongside the town's own permit desk before advertising a Deer Isle listing on borrowed numbers. AirROI measures bookings; it does not confirm zoning, and a strong revenue file is not a substitute for a call to the Deer Isle Town Office. This is not legal advice.

The Headline Number: $17,949 From 77 Listings

AirROI's trailing-twelve-month extract, through July 2026, puts the typical Deer Isle short-term rental year at $17,949. That figure is drawn from 77 active listings, which is a modest but workable sample for an island market this size. The average night booked at $296, and occupancy across the sample ran 37.0 percent for the year. Multiply those two figures against 365 nights and the arithmetic lands close to the headline total once vacancy and shoulder-month softness are factored in.

Revenue per available night, at $113, is the number worth carrying into a pricing conversation, because it strips out the noise of any single owner's calendar choices. A host who blocks off six weeks for personal use and a host who runs the calendar wide open both show up in the same RevPAN figure, which makes it a fairer year-over-year comparison point than raw occupancy alone.

Seventy-seven listings is not a huge sample, and it should be treated as directional rather than definitive down to the dollar. But it is Deer Isle's own file, not a Hancock County composite, and that specificity is worth defending in any listing copy, buyer packet, or brokerage conversation that touches this address.

Year Over Year: Down 23.7 Percent, Supply Flat

The extract shows Deer Isle's typical year down 23.7 percent from the prior period, while supply moved 0.0 percent -- meaning the drop in the average listing's earnings did not come from a flood of new competing units. That combination points toward softer per-listing demand or pricing rather than oversupply diluting the pool.

A flat supply line paired with a double-digit revenue decline is worth a second look at pricing strategy before assuming the market itself has cooled uniformly. Some of that 23.7 percent could reflect a handful of top-performing listings normalizing off an unusually strong prior comparison period, which is common on islands where a small sample means a few outlier properties can swing the average.

Whatever the cause, the honest move is to cite both numbers together -- the $17,949 typical year and the 23.7 percent year-over-year move -- rather than quoting the revenue figure alone as if it were rising. A buyer or seller who only hears the dollar total without the trend line is getting half the picture.

The Calendar: August, September, and July Carry the Desk

Deer Isle's three strongest months are August, September, and July, in that order of strength, with August the clear peak. January is the slowest month on the extract. That shape is typical for a Maine island market: a short, intense summer season anchored by granite-coast scenery, hiking, and boating, tapering into a real shoulder rather than a long secondary peak.

The strength of August, September, and July together means a Deer Isle owner's pricing calendar should treat that three-month stretch as the primary revenue engine, with the rest of the year built around occupancy-holding strategies rather than rate-holding ones. January's status as the hole in the calendar is not a flaw to hide; it is a planning fact that belongs in any owner's cash-flow model.

Typical stay length across the sample is 5.8 nights, and guests book about 80 days ahead on average. That lead time gives owners a real planning window heading into the August-September-July run, and it means last-minute discounting in peak season should be a rare exception, not a standing strategy.

Where Guests Come From

New York is Deer Isle's top origin market, followed by Portland. That pairing -- a major out-of-state metro plus the closest in-state city -- is a common demand pattern for coastal Maine, where drive-market Mainers fill some weekends and longer-haul New York guests anchor the higher-value summer bookings.

Superhost share across the sample sits at 59.7 percent, which is a meaningfully high number and suggests the active listing pool skews toward experienced operators rather than first-year hosts still building review counts. That matters for a new entrant sizing up the competitive set: Deer Isle's 77 listings are not a field of novices.

For marketing purposes, leading with New York-oriented messaging -- direct flight or drive-time framing from the New York metro, alongside a shorter Portland day-trip narrative -- reflects where actual demand originates rather than guessing at a generic New England audience.

What the Island Actually Sells

Deer Isle is a granite Hancock County island, not a Bar Harbor listing and not a Stonington stand-in. Guests come for Causeway Beach, Settlement Quarry Preserve, Eggemoggin Reach, and the Deer Isle-Sedgwick Bridge itself, which is the visual signature of arriving on the island. Photograph those landmarks specifically rather than leaning on a generic Down East caption that could describe a dozen other coastal Maine addresses.

The 30-night-minimum detail in the extract is worth separating from occupancy: about 33.8 percent of listings, or 26 of the 77 in the sample, run a 30-night minimum-stay policy. That is a business-model choice some owners make deliberately, often to sidestep short-term rental permitting thresholds or to target a longer-stay guest, and it should not be read as evidence of weak demand. The typical stay of 5.8 nights and 37.0 percent occupancy figure describe the market as a whole, minimum-stay listings included.

Neighbors That Do Not Belong in This File

Eastport, Maine published its own typical year of $15,265 from 54 listings on the same AirROI pass. That is a real, separate Maine coastal market, and it belongs on its own line -- not folded into Deer Isle's $17,949 to produce a blended regional average that describes neither town accurately.

The same discipline applies to Solomons, which published $38,794 across 40 listings on a different bay system entirely. It is a different market with a different demand driver, and averaging its number into a Penobscot Bay figure would misrepresent both places. Any packet, listing description, or brokerage comp sheet that cites Deer Isle's numbers should cite Deer Isle's numbers -- $17,949 from 77 listings -- and nothing else.

Stonington and Bar Harbor are also separate municipalities from the Town of Deer Isle, each with its own permitting authority and, likely, its own AirROI file. A listing physically located in Deer Isle should never borrow Stonington's zoning language or Bar Harbor's tourism copy; the town line is the dividing point for both revenue data and regulatory compliance.

Using This Report Without Overstating It

A 77-listing sample supports directional claims -- typical year, typical night, typical occupancy, typical stay length -- and it does not support precision claims about any individual property's likely performance. Two listings a mile apart on Deer Isle, one waterfront and one set back from the shore, can post very different results even inside the same 37.0 percent occupancy average.

The most defensible way to use this file is as a floor for conversation: cite $17,949, 77 listings, and the August-September-July peak as the town's own published shape, then layer in a specific property's location, size, and amenities on top of that baseline rather than instead of it.

AirROI data measures what already happened on the booking calendar. It says nothing about whether a specific address is zoned for short-term rental use. That confirmation runs through the Deer Isle Town Office, not through a revenue extract, however current.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a typical Deer Isle STR year in this sample?

AirROI lists a typical Deer Isle year at about $17,949 from 77 listings for the trailing twelve months through July 2026, updated 2026-08-08. That works out to an average night of $296 and 37.0 percent occupancy, with revenue per available night at $113. The year is down 23.7 percent from the prior comparison period, while supply held flat at 0.0 percent change.

Can I average Solomons or Eastport into this figure?

No. Solomons published $38,794 across 40 listings and Eastport published $15,265 across 54 listings -- both separate coastal markets that do not blend into a single Penobscot Bay number. Cite Deer Isle's $17,949 from its own 77 listings, and label any comparison town by name rather than folding its figure into Deer Isle's average.

Which months are strongest in Deer Isle?

August, September, and July are the three strongest months, with August the busiest and January the slowest. That three-month stretch is the primary revenue engine for most Deer Isle listings, and pricing calendars should be built around holding rate during that window rather than discounting to fill it.

Where do Deer Isle guests come from?

New York is the top origin market, followed by Portland. Typical stay length is 5.8 nights, and guests book about 80 days ahead on average. Superhost share across the 77-listing sample runs 59.7 percent, suggesting an experienced host pool rather than a market dominated by first-year operators.

Does a low-regulation label mean there is no local permit required?

No -- a low-regulation label on a data aggregator is a scrape, not the town's actual file. Call the Deer Isle Town Office at 207-348-6060 to confirm current local rules before advertising. Note that Stonington and Bar Harbor are separate municipalities with their own STR permitting, so a Deer Isle address should never lean on either town's rules.

Is the 30-night minimum share the same thing as low occupancy?

No. About 33.8 percent of listings, 26 of the 77 in the sample, set a 30-night minimum stay, which is a business-model choice, not a demand signal. The typical stay across the whole sample is still 5.8 nights and occupancy for the year runs 37.0 percent; a minimum-stay setting on a subset of listings does not reduce the market-wide occupancy figure.

What should a buyer packet cite from this report?

Cite $17,949 from 77 listings, the August-September-July peak with August as the busiest month, January as the slow month, New York as the top origin market, a 5.8-night typical stay with an 80-day lead time, and the Deer Isle Town Office line, 207-348-6060, for permit confirmation. Label any neighboring town's figures separately rather than blending them in.

Why did the typical year drop 23.7 percent while supply stayed flat?

A flat supply line paired with a double-digit revenue decline usually points to softer per-listing pricing or demand rather than new competition diluting the pool. On a small, 77-listing sample, a handful of previously strong-performing listings normalizing can also swing the year-over-year average more than it would in a larger market.

What does revenue per available night actually measure, and why does it matter here?

Revenue per available night, $113 in this sample, blends occupancy and rate into one figure that is not distorted by how many nights an individual owner chooses to block for personal use. It is a fairer year-over-year comparison point than raw occupancy alone, and it explains why a 37.0 percent occupancy market still produces a meaningful annual total.

Is this data enough to confirm a specific Deer Isle address is zoned for short-term rental use?

No. AirROI measures booking activity that already happened; it does not confirm municipal zoning or permit status for any individual parcel. A strong revenue file is a marketing and pricing input, not a substitute for confirming compliance directly with the Deer Isle Town Office at 207-348-6060.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Deer Isle's own file is $17,949 across 77 listings -- not a borrowed Bar Harbor caption or a blended Penobscot Bay average. Name the failure mode the guest can check on the listing.

Crest & Cove builds listing copy and photo strategy around the number a market actually published, not a neighbor's mash-up. Start at crestcove.co/audit or call (256) 998-7502. Send the live listing draft and the facts you can actually cite.

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