Mid-Term Rentals: The Fastest-Growing Segment Most Hosts Are Ignoring

I want to share a number with you that stopped me mid-sip of my morning coffee a few weeks ago.

Between 2019 and the end of 2025, nights booked for stays of 28 days or more grew by 136%. Over that same period, standard short-term rental nights grew by 52%. That is not a small gap. That is a market segment growing at nearly three times the rate of everything else in our industry, and the majority of hosts are not paying attention to it.

Today I want to walk you through what the data shows, who is driving this demand, and what a sensible mid-term rental strategy actually looks like in practice.

What We Mean by Mid-Term Rentals

The industry generally defines a mid-term rental as any stay of 30 days or longer. Some platforms use 28 days as their threshold. For our purposes here, I will use the two terms interchangeably, because the guest profile, the economics, and the operational reality all shift at roughly that boundary.

Think of it this way. A short-term rental guest arrives on a Friday, leaves Sunday, and was probably searching on Airbnb two weeks ago. A mid-term rental guest arrives with a suitcase and a work laptop, plans to stay six to eight weeks, and was searching Furnished Finder because their hospital system transferred them to a new city.

The difference in guest type changes almost everything: how you price, how you screen, how often you clean, and how you fill gaps in your calendar.

The Numbers Behind the Growth

Let me lay out the core data clearly, because these figures deserve careful attention.

Industry tracking data shows the 28-plus-day segment grew from roughly 20 million booked nights in 2019 to approximately 46 million by late 2025. That 136% expansion compares to 52% growth for shorter stays over the same period.

Monthly rentals now represent 19% of total rental demand. Year-over-year growth for monthly stays was 8% in 2025, versus just 3% for short-term stays. In large urban markets specifically, the compound annual growth rate from 2023 through late 2025 was 16%.

The city-level data is striking. In New York, monthly rentals grew from roughly a third of total rental demand in 2022 to approximately 70% by 2024. Los Angeles saw a gradual shift from the mid-30% range to around 40%. These are not marginal adjustments. These are fundamental realignments in how people rent housing in major markets.

That occupancy figure is the one I keep coming back to. Consistent 85 to 90% occupancy, even at a lower nightly rate, produces more reliable monthly revenue than a property bouncing between 60% and 40% depending on the season. StaySTRA’s proprietary data shows that short-term rental markets like Houston, Texas are running at average occupancy rates around 54.8%, and Austin at 57.7%. Mid-term properties in those same markets are filling at rates 30 percentage points higher.

Who Is Filling These Units

The guest mix for mid-term rentals is more predictable than most hosts realize. Based on industry research, the demand breaks down roughly as follows.

That travel nurse segment deserves its own paragraph. More than 1.7 million travel nurses are currently working across the country. These are credentialed healthcare professionals on 13-week contracts, earning well and needing furnished housing in cities they have never lived in before. They pay reliably. They treat the property with care. They rarely throw parties. And they will be back, or they will refer a colleague.

The digital nomad segment is smaller in share but growing rapidly. In 2024, 18.1 million U.S. workers identified as digital nomads, up 147% since 2019. These guests tend to stay two to three months in a market before moving on. They need reliable WiFi, a proper workspace, and a kitchen. Sound familiar?

Corporate relocation is the segment most hosts overlook entirely. When a company transfers an employee to a new city, that person needs furnished housing for 60 to 90 days while they search for a permanent home. Corporate housing demand is not seasonal. It does not slow down in January. It does not collapse when a platform runs a promotion.

The Platform Landscape: Furnished Finder vs Airbnb and Beyond

If you are accustomed to Airbnb and VRBO, the mid-term platform world will look unfamiliar at first. Let me walk you through the main players.

Furnished Finder is the dominant platform for travel nurse and healthcare professional housing in the United States. Before the pandemic, it had roughly 20,000 listings. Today it has more than 300,000. Booking inquiries tripled between 2022 and 2025, and the platform logged over 2 million tenant inquiries in 2025 alone, a 105% year-over-year increase.

The fee structure comparison between Furnished Finder vs Airbnb is where things get interesting. Furnished Finder charges hosts an annual listing fee of approximately $199. There is no per-booking commission. You negotiate directly with your tenant, sign your own lease, and collect rent however you choose. Compare that to Airbnb’s current 15.5% host-only fee on every booking. At $3,000 per month in rent, Airbnb’s structure would cost you $465 per month. Furnished Finder’s structure costs you $16.58 per month amortized across the year.

Now, don’t let that math make you think one is always better than the other. They serve different guests and different use cases. But the comparison is worth understanding clearly before you decide where to allocate your effort.

Landing operates in a different segment. It is a curated furnished apartment network available in more than 250 U.S. cities, built specifically for professionals who need flexible monthly housing. The average Landing stay runs about 77 nights. Landing handles the guest experience, the booking, and the standardization. Hosts who list with Landing trade some control for access to Landing’s corporate client base.

Blueground focuses on the global corporate relocation market, positioning fully furnished apartments for relocating executives and long-term business travelers. If your property is in a major metropolitan area near a large employer base, Blueground is worth understanding.

A sensible mid-term rental strategy does not require picking just one platform. Many hosts list on Furnished Finder to capture healthcare demand, use a direct booking channel for corporate clients, and keep Airbnb active for the gaps that cannot be filled with longer stays.

If you have been tracking what Airbnb’s new 15.5% host fee structure does to your monthly revenue, the math above will feel familiar. Moving even a portion of your calendar to mid-term bookings meaningfully reduces the commission drag on your annual gross.

The Regulatory Advantage Most Hosts Are Not Talking About

This is where the data becomes particularly interesting for anyone worried about the direction of STR regulation.

Since 2021, the number of proposed state-level short-term rental bills has increased by an average of 67 per year. Approximately 328 such bills were expected in 2025, with roughly one in five projected to pass. New York City’s Local Law 18 effectively removed 15,000 short-term rental listings from the market in a single policy change. Similar restrictions have rolled out or are pending in cities across the country.

Mid-term rentals, generally defined as stays of 30 days or longer, sit in a different regulatory category in most jurisdictions. Most STR ordinances explicitly apply to stays under 30 days, treating those properties like hotels or lodging establishments subject to licensing, occupancy taxes, and operational restrictions. A 30-plus-day stay typically falls under residential tenancy law instead, which is a different regulatory framework entirely.

This does not mean mid-term rentals are unregulated. Landlord-tenant laws apply. Lease agreements matter. Security deposits and notice periods are governed by state law. But in most markets, a host who operates in the 30-plus-day range is not subject to the short-term rental permit requirements, neighborhood caps, owner-occupancy rules, or nightly occupancy taxes that are making STR operations increasingly complicated.

That is a meaningful operational advantage, and it compounds over time as regulation tightens.

The Revenue Math: A Realistic Comparison

I want to be honest with you about the trade-offs here, because mid-term rentals are not always the higher-revenue choice in every market.

Short-term rentals generally command higher nightly rates. A property in Nashville, Tennessee that StaySTRA’s proprietary data shows averaging $301 per night in the STR market is not going to command $301 per night for a two-month corporate relocation booking. Mid-term guests expect a discount for the length of commitment, typically in the 20 to 30% range off the short-term nightly rate.

But here is where the math gets interesting. Consider two versions of the same property.

The mid-term property in this example nets nearly $1,260 more per month, not because the nightly rate is higher, but because the platform fees are lower, the occupancy is higher, and the turnover costs are dramatically reduced.

I use this as an illustration, not a guarantee. Your market, your property type, and your local demand mix will determine the actual numbers. The StaySTRA analyzer is the right tool for running those figures against your specific situation.

What Markets Work Best for Mid-Term Rentals

Not every market is equally suited to a mid-term rental strategy. The markets that perform best tend to share a few characteristics.

They have large employer bases, particularly in healthcare, technology, finance, or government. They have major hospital systems that regularly bring in traveling nurses and specialists. They have universities with research programs that attract visiting faculty and post-doctoral fellows. They are not primarily driven by seasonal tourism.

Houston, Texas is a strong example. StaySTRA’s proprietary data shows Houston with approximately 15,662 active short-term rental listings and a healthcare ecosystem anchored by the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical complex. A property within reasonable distance of that complex has access to a near-continuous stream of traveling healthcare professionals who need furnished housing for 13-week contract assignments.

Markets like seasonal beach towns or ski resorts tend to perform less well in a pure mid-term strategy. Their demand peaks are short-term and leisure-driven. A hybrid approach, short-term during peak season and mid-term during shoulder and off seasons, often makes more sense in those markets.

If you want to understand where the broader STR market stands right now, that context matters for deciding how mid-term fits into your portfolio mix.

Practical Steps for Getting Started

If you are considering adding a mid-term rental strategy to your existing operation, here is where I would suggest beginning.

Step 1: Assess your market’s demand drivers. Look at major employers, hospital systems, universities, and corporate headquarters within a reasonable distance of your property. The more of those anchor institutions you have nearby, the stronger your mid-term demand foundation.

Step 2: Price correctly for the segment. Mid-term guests expect a monthly discount, typically 20 to 35% off your short-term nightly rate. Build that expectation into your pricing model from the start. The revenue math only works if your occupancy stays high enough to compensate.

Step 3: List on the right platforms. Furnished Finder for healthcare and general mid-term demand. Direct outreach to corporate relocation departments if you are near major employers. Landing or Blueground if you are in a metropolitan area with strong corporate housing demand. Airbnb’s monthly discount tool is also worth activating, as the 30 day rental Airbnb filter will show your property to guests searching for longer stays.

Step 4: Adjust your operations. Mid-term guests do not need daily or weekly cleanings. A mid-stay refresh every two weeks is standard. This reduces your labor costs meaningfully. But do invest in proper tenant screening. Furnished Finder integrates with background check services, and a screening process protects you in a way that Airbnb’s review system does not fully replicate for longer tenancies.

Step 5: Review your lease structure. A 30-plus-day stay in most states triggers residential tenancy protections. You need a proper month-to-month or fixed-term lease, clear language about utilities, and a documented move-in and move-out process. This is different from a booking confirmation. If you are new to this, a template from a local real estate attorney is worth the modest investment.

A Note on Hybrid Strategies

The most resilient hosts I have tracked through the data are not all-in on any single channel or stay length. They use short-term rentals during the seasons and holidays when demand justifies peak nightly rates. They shift to mid-term rentals during slower periods to maintain occupancy and reduce the operational load of constant turnover. They build relationships with corporate accounts that provide predictable volume.

Think of it like a diversified investment portfolio. Each segment has different risk characteristics, different return profiles, and different seasonal behavior. Adding mid-term rentals to a short-term rental portfolio is not a replacement. It is a hedge. It smooths out the volatility, reduces your regulatory exposure, and opens access to a guest segment that is growing at nearly three times the rate of the core market.

That 136% growth figure did not appear overnight, and it is not slowing down. The workforce mobility trends, the housing affordability pressures, and the continued normalization of remote and contract work all point toward sustained demand for furnished monthly housing through 2026 and well beyond.

The hosts who figure this out in the next 12 months will have a meaningful head start.

We do our best to keep our data accurate and up to date, but markets move fast and we are only human. Always verify current figures directly with local sources before making investment decisions.

Run the Numbers on Your Market

Whether you are weighing a mid-term strategy for a single property or looking to understand how it fits across a broader portfolio, the StaySTRA Analyzer gives you a starting point grounded in real market data. Enter your address and see revenue projections, occupancy benchmarks, and comparable property data for your specific location.

For a detailed look at a market with strong mid-term demand, the Houston STR market profile is a useful reference, with current occupancy rates, ADR trends, active listing counts, and neighborhood-level breakdowns.

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