The gross holiday let premium for a 3-bed house in Aberdeenshire is 13%, but once Airbnb fees, insurance, utilities and maintenance are stripped out, the picture flips. This article works through both a 3-bed house and a 2-bed apartment because the cost structures differ: apartments add service charges to the bill, but lower entry prices change the yield maths.
3-Bed House: Holiday Let Net Yield Lands at 3.7% vs 5.5% for Buy-to-Let
The gross numbers favour holiday letting by 13%, but the net numbers tell the opposite story. Holiday letting in Aberdeenshire is self-managed by default in the figures below; buy-to-let assumes a letting agent at around 11% of rent, which is the standard arrangement for landlords outside the area.
| Holiday let | Buy-to-let | |
|---|---|---|
| Property price | £179,166 | £179,166 |
| Gross revenue | £18,097 | £16,017 |
| Airbnb fees (15.5%) | £2,805 | — |
| Letting agent | — | £1,734 |
| Insurance | £988 | £404 |
| Maintenance | £4,164 | £2,562 |
| Utilities | £2,328 | £288 |
| Business rates (with SBRR often £0) | £0 | — (tenant pays council tax) |
| Holiday let tax | $0 | — |
| Total costs | £11,402 | £6,105 |
| Net income | £6,695 | £9,912 |
| Net yield | 3.7% | 5.5% |
Airbnb is the stated platform here at 15.5% host-only fee. Vrbo runs around 5%, Booking.com around 15%, and direct bookings carry no platform fee at all, so a multi-channel strategy can compress this line.
What Eats the Holiday Let Premium
Three line items do most of the damage. Airbnb fees alone consume £2,805 a year, more than the entire gap between gross holiday let revenue and gross buy-to-let rent. Insurance roughly doubles, from £404 for a standard landlord policy to £988 for a commercial holiday let policy that covers public liability and short-stay guests. Utilities of £2,328 fall on the holiday let owner because guests are not on the bills, whereas a buy-to-let tenant pays their own.
Maintenance is also higher at £4,164 versus £2,562, because the website's holiday let figure includes furnishing replacement (sofas, beds, white goods, decor) that buy-to-let landlords do not pay for. By the time these four lines are added together, the 13% gross premium is more than absorbed.
2-Bed Apartment: Service Charges Tighten the Maths Further
Apartments enter the market at a far lower price, but service charges are an unavoidable extra. The 2-bed apartment table below uses the same self-managed holiday let and agent-managed buy-to-let assumptions as the house above.
| Holiday let | Buy-to-let | |
|---|---|---|
| Property price | £116,099 | £116,099 |
| Gross revenue | £11,661 | £10,790 |
| Airbnb fees (15.5%) | £1,807 | — |
| Letting agent | — | £1,133 |
| Insurance | £637 | £273 |
| Maintenance | £2,759 | £1,660 |
| Utilities | £1,620 | £170 |
| Business rates (with SBRR often £0) | £0 | — (tenant pays council tax) |
| Holiday let tax | $0 | — |
| Service charge | £1,392 | £1,392 |
| Total costs | £8,940 | £5,352 |
| Net income | £2,721 | £5,438 |
| Net yield | 2.3% | 4.7% |
The service charge appears in both columns because it is a property-level cost that the leaseholder owes regardless of whether the flat is being holiday-let or rented to a long-term tenant. It is not a holiday-let-specific overhead.
Apartments Need a Lower Entry Price to Match House Yields
The apartment entry price of £116,099 is roughly two-thirds of the £179,166 house, which is what makes the yield maths work despite weaker headline rents. On the buy-to-let side, the apartment posts a net yield of 4.7% versus 5.5% for the house. On the holiday let side, the apartment delivers 2.3% against the house's 3.7%.
Service charges of £1,392 per year are the headwind apartments cannot escape. Aberdeenshire's apartment stock is concentrated in the smaller market towns and the rural fringes of Aberdeen, so factor charges tend to be lighter than in central city blocks, but they still come off the top. The decision between house and apartment comes down to capital outlay and exit liquidity rather than running yield: houses tie up more equity per unit but are easier to sell to owner-occupiers, while apartments free up cash for a second property at the cost of leasehold complexity.
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Holiday Let Only Breaks Even at 29% Occupancy
The 3-bed house in Aberdeenshire needs 29% occupancy just to match what buy-to-let grosses, before any cost differences are counted. The market median sits at 32%, so the typical operator is only marginally above the gross floor. Once the higher cost base is layered in, the break-even on a net basis is well above 29%, which is why buy-to-let wins on net yield in this region. Operators willing to grind for 42% or above (better photos, dynamic pricing, multi-channel listings) can shift the calculus, but the reward for that effort is modest given the gross premium is only 13%.
Hiring a Letting Agent for the Holiday Let Wipes Out Most of the Net Income
The tables above assume the owner self-manages the holiday let, which means handling enquiries, cleans, key handovers and guest issues. Hiring a professional holiday let manager in Aberdeenshire typically adds around £3,981 a year for the 3-bed house, equivalent to roughly 22% of gross revenue. After that fee, the net yield drops to 1.5%, which is well below the buy-to-let net yield of 5.5%.
The implication is straightforward: if you cannot or will not self-manage, the holiday let strategy in Aberdeenshire stops making financial sense at the median rate. Buy-to-let, where the agent fee of around 11% is already priced into the figures above, becomes the default lower-effort option. Aberdeenshire suits self-managing owners who already live in or near the area; absentee investors are usually better served by long-term tenancies.
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The Furnished Holiday Let Tax Regime Has Been Abolished, Closing the Last Holiday Let Advantage
From April 2025, the Furnished Holiday Let tax regime was abolished. Holiday lets and buy-to-let properties are now taxed on equivalent terms, which means mortgage interest no longer offsets rental income at the marginal rate; instead, a basic rate (20%) tax credit applies to both. Capital allowances on furnishings and the favourable capital gains treatment that holiday lets enjoyed have also been withdrawn. The financial comparison between the two strategies now rests purely on running yield, and as the tables above show, buy-to-let comes out ahead in Aberdeenshire.
Stamp duty applies on purchase, with the Additional Dwelling Supplement adding 8% to investment purchases above the threshold. Scotland's holiday let licensing scheme (mandatory since October 2022) requires every operator to obtain a council-issued licence; fees vary by council, and Edinburgh is the only short-term let control area in Scotland. Scotland requires a short-term let licence (mandatory since Oct 2022). Licence fee varies by council. Edinburgh is a short-term let control area where secondary letting may also require planning permission for change of use. Edinburgh will introduce a visitor levy on paid overnight accommodation from 24 July 2026. Verify the licence cost and any planning requirements with Aberdeenshire Council before committing.
For a deeper breakdown of how operating costs are estimated, see the data sources methodology. These figures are city-level medians; individual postcode districts within Aberdeenshire diverge, with coastal Stonehaven and Royal Deeside towns commanding stronger nightly rates than the inland market towns. Explore rental data in the dashboard to see the suburb-level numbers.
Data reflects market conditions as of May 2026.
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This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.
Methodology and Assumptions
Defaults used in the figures above. All inputs are adjustable in the dashboard.
How available nights are determined
Available nights default to 330 per year, reflecting an active operator with minimal blocked time. Where local regulations cap whole-home short-term lets (for example London at 90 nights, New South Wales at 180), the cap is applied. In markets where short-term rental requires owner-occupancy or is otherwise prohibited for investment properties, available nights drop to zero.
How occupancy is measured
The percentage of available nights that get booked, drawn from market data. A property listed for 200 nights with 100 bookings shows 50% occupancy. Adjustable in the dashboard.
Long-term rental management default
Includes a 9% letting agent fee, the standard arrangement for UK buy-to-let investors who use a managing agent. Self-managed landlords can adjust this to zero in the dashboard.
Short-term rental management default
Set to self-managed (zero management fee) by default, the most common arrangement for individual investors. Hiring a professional manager typically costs 20-25% of gross revenue and reduces net yield proportionally. Toggle in the dashboard.
How property tax is calculated
Council tax in the UK is typically paid by the tenant for long-term rentals, so it is excluded from buy-to-let costs. Holiday lets are usually assessed as business rates and may qualify for Small Business Rate Relief, often reducing this to zero.
Local regulations
Scotland requires a short-term let licence (mandatory since Oct 2022). Licence fee varies by council. Edinburgh is a short-term let control area where secondary letting may also require planning permission for change of use. Edinburgh will introduce a visitor levy on paid overnight accommodation from 24 July 2026.
Sampling and data sources
Short-term rental yield figures reflect properties currently listed on short-term rental platforms. In high-tourism markets, listings tend to concentrate in central postcodes, which can pull city-median yields above what residential areas of the same city would achieve. Yields for any specific suburb may differ materially from the city-wide median.
For metric definitions and broader methodology, see the About page.