The City of Alexandria may move forward with regulating short-term rentals like Airbnb this fall, but a staff report on the topic reveals interesting statistics about who rents in Alexandria.

There are about 725 short-term rental units in Alexandria. Of those, 460 are registered with the city and another 265 are believed to be unregistered units – either not registered with the city or subject to an exemption. That’s 0.88 percent of the available housing stock, but not enough to affect housing prices, according to the report.

Airbnb accounts for about 70% of bookings for Alexandria and has provided the city with data on both incoming renters and hosts:

• Statistics show that 83% of renters rent out the entire house, while 17% rent out only part of their house.
• 69% of rental properties are single-family homes
• Almost 80% of guests are over 30 years old and 61% are female
• 91% of hosts in Alexandria are over 30 years old and most (81%) list only one home
• About 94% of tenants come from the United States
• The typical stay at an Airbnb in Alexandria is about five nights, but 20% of bookings are over 30 days.
• The average rating for an Airbnb in Alexandria is 4.9 stars, the second highest rating in the state after Charlottesville

The staff report also showed that short-term rentals accounted for $3.5 million in transit occupancy tax and local sales tax in 2023, which is 75% of the local transit tax.

The city is currently gathering feedback on short-term leases and expects to have a draft of recommended regulations sometime this month or next. The Planning Commission will consider the proposed text change at its Sept. 20 meeting. The proposed changes will be considered in public hearings by the Planning Commission and City Council in December.