Up-and-Coming Cities for Airbnb Investment in 2026

By Mirko Zara | 5 August, 2026

Airbnb Investment Hotspots in the UK: Markets to Watch

Successful Airbnb investing isn’t about chasing yesterday’s hotspots.

Year after year, blog after blog, we see the same cities dominating Airbnb investment conversions. London. Edinburgh. Bath. York. They’re all no-brainers.

But what about the up-and-coming areas not yet under the microscope that investors might be missing?

Up-and-Coming Cities for Airbnb Investment in 2026
Our Airbnb property management teams at Ovitzia have analysed Airbnb performance data alongside visitor trends and tourism statistics to identify UK markets that won’t be at the front of your mind but show strong underlying fundamentals.

Rather than focusing solely on annual revenue, we’ve turned our focus to destinations where demand continues to strengthen, and occupancy remains resilient, showing potential for professionally managed Airbnbs to outperform.

While they’re not necessarily the biggest Airbnb markets, they do show interest potential. That said, here are the strongest UK Airbnb markets showing significant growth in 2026 and why you should pay close attention to these areas before competition catches up.

How We Selected the Best Emerging City Airbnb Markets

Data providers/Data collection date
Whether revenue is median or average
Which property types included
Whether figures are gross revenue
How each city was scored by Ovitzia
Whether property prices were considered

Chester for best emerging city breaks

Average annual Airbnb revenue: £33,000 (£31,000 to £44,000 gross)
Average occupancy: 68-70%
Average nightly rate (ADR): £140-£177 per night
RevPAR growth: +7.5% YoY

Investors should have their eye on Chester because it’s quietly becoming one of the UK’s strongest-performing city-break destinations.

AirDNA data shows RevPAR increasing by 7.5% year-on-year, while occupancy has also edged higher than UK averages.

At the same time, the number of active short-term rental listings has remained stable, showing that demand is growing without a huge rise in competition.

Tourism demand to the area is also strengthening, with Chester Zoo welcoming a record of 2.14 million visitors in 2025, making it the busiest year in its history. And it’s this growth that has been supporting major investment into new attractions.

Explore Airbnb management in Chester.

Southampton for strongest year-round demand

Average annual Airbnb revenue: £21,000 to £23,250
Average occupancy: 65%
Average nightly rate (ADR): £105-£124 per night
RevPAR growth: +6.2% YoY

Investors should pay close attention to Southampton, because unlike many coastal destinations, it doesn’t rely on one type of visitor.

The Port of Southampton remains one of the UK’s busiest cruise terminals, making it a good spot to react to pre- and post-cruise accommodation demand throughout the year.

More importantly for investors, national short-term rental data suggests that ADR and average rental yields reached record highs in May 2026, even as supply continued to grow elsewhere in the UK, highlighting a significant rise and resilience in guest demand.

Explore Airbnb management in Southampton.

Portsmouth for fastest-revenue growth

Average annual Airbnb revenue: £21,000 to £23,000
Average occupancy: 60%
Average nightly rate (ADR): £104 per night
RevPAR growth: +17.4% YoY

Portsmouth made this list because of its growth trajectory. While average revenues for income and occupancy sit below some established UK Airbnb markets, the annual revenue growth of more than 17% is actually making this city one of the fastest-growing locations we’ve analysed this year.

Tourism in Portsmouth has also reached new heights, attracting 12 million visitors each year, supported by attractions like the Historic Dockyard, Spinnaker Tower and Gunwharf Quays.

From an investment perspective, the high revenue growth combined with affordable property prices makes Portsmouth an attractive market for investors looking beyond the UK’s traditional Airbnb hotspots.

Explore Airbnb management in Portsmouth.

Other markets worth looking into

City	Why it's interesting	Worth investing?
Plymouth	Airbtics flags it as an "under-the-radar" market with revenue growth outpacing supply.	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cambridge	Consistently resilient demand and international visitor mix	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Norwich	Stable growth, affordable entry point	⭐⭐⭐
Liverpool	One of only nine UK local authorities accounting for almost a quarter of all UK short-term-let guest nights in 2025, showing exceptional demand concentration.	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Newcastle	North East recorded the UK's fastest regional growth in guest nights (+22.2% in 2025), suggesting Newcastle benefits from wider regional momentum.	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Leeds	West Yorkshire's visitor economy reached £6.63bn in 2025, with overnight stays up 8% despite a national decline.	⭐⭐⭐⭐
East Devon	Airbtics identifies it as an "under-the-radar" market where revenue growth is exceeding supply growth.	⭐⭐⭐⭐

What we’re watching for 2027

These aren’t markets we’d necessarily recommend today, but they’re markets we’re monitoring closely.

Leeds (visitor economy up strongly)
Newcastle (North East guest nights +22.2%)
Liverpool (very high concentration of guest nights)

Why these markets matter

The strongest opportunities aren’t necessarily found in the locations with the highest nightly rates. Instead, we’re seeing they’re often found in cities where:

Revenue is growing faster than supply.
Occupancy remains resilient.
Tourism demand is broadening rather than relying on one season.
Professional management can unlock additional revenue.

As the UK short-term rental market matures, identifying these emerging trends early may prove more valuable than simply investing in the country’s most established Airbnb destinations.

How we identified these markets

For each location, Ovitzia assessed:

Average annual Airbnb revenue
Occupancy and average daily rates (ADR)
Revenue growth
RevPAR (Revenue per Available Rental) performance
Visitor and tourism trends
Whether demand appears to be outpacing accommodation supply

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