Fort Lauderdale Short-Term Rentals Yield 8.8%, but Costs Cut Deep

⚠ Short-term rental figures apply only where legally permitted. Hollywood and several South Florida neighbors (Coral Gables, Key Biscayne) impose stricter rules; verify city-level permits before purchase.

Estimates for a typical 3-bedroom house. Figures are modelled from market data; not guaranteed outcomes.

Annual long-term rental revenue is monthly rent × 12 × tenanted occupancy (94%). Annual short-term rental revenue is nightly rate × occupancy × 330 available nights. Both match the Dashboard's calculation.

Short-term rental grosses roughly 77% more than long-term rental on paper, but the higher operating burden (Airbnb fees, furnishing wear, utilities, insurance) absorbs much of that premium before tax.

Short-Term Rental Gross Revenue Matches Long-Term Rental at 29% Occupancy in Fort Lauderdale

Short-term rental gross revenue only matches long-term rental annual rent above 29% occupancy. Below that threshold, the headline 8.8% gross yield collapses below the steady 5.0% that a tenanted lease produces. After costs (Airbnb fees, higher insurance, utilities, furnishing wear), the true crossover where short-term rental beats long-term rental on net yield is higher still, closer to 45–50% once Airbnb fees, higher insurance, and utilities are netted out. Broward's 51% regional average sits well above the break-even, but that average masks heavy variation between beachfront ZIP codes and inland suburbs.

Occupancy is the single biggest variable in short-term rental returns. At 36% occupancy (a soft season or a less-touristed inland location), gross revenue falls to $38,104, barely above the long-term rental annual figure. At 61% occupancy (a well-managed beachfront listing in peak winter), gross revenue climbs to $64,916. Long-term rental income, by contrast, is essentially fixed once tenanted at 94%.

Suburban Demand and Affordability: Where Fort Lauderdale Suburbs Beat the Beachfront

Fort Lauderdale's mid-density inland suburbs deliver the strongest yields because they offer enough tourist and snowbird demand to support short-term rental, but at sale prices well below the $1M+ beachfront properties of Hollywood Beach (33019). The suburbs ranked below trade premium location for stronger cash flow, the best-of-both-worlds pocket investors should target.

Top yielding suburbs in Broward County for 3-bedroom houses (long-term rental gross yield).

Pompano Beach (33069) leads the county at 7.9%, well above the Broward median of 5.0%. The pattern is consistent: suburbs priced between $355,000 and $465,000 produce the highest yields, while the $1M+ beachfront ZIPs (Hollywood 33019, Lighthouse Point) drop below 5.0% as appreciation, not cash flow, becomes the investment thesis. Compared to rural Florida high-yield areas like Fountain (Bay County) at 17.1% or Bonifay (Holmes County) at 15.1%, Broward's coastal suburbs trade some yield for stronger short-term rental demand and far better liquidity on resale.

These are averages per suburb. Bedroom-count and property-type breakdowns are available in the dashboard so you can model your specific property.

View Fort Lauderdale in the dashboard →Free preview · every bedroom count and property type

Operating Costs Cut Fort Lauderdale Short-Term Rental Returns by Nearly Three-Quarters

Short-term rental gross revenue of $54,191 carries an annual operating burden of $40,270, leaving net income of $13,921 (a net yield of 2.3%). The cost stack reflects the dashboard's default assumption that the host self-manages.

• Airbnb host fee: approximately $8,400 per year (Airbnb's split-fee model takes around 15.5% of bookings)
• Insurance: $8,910 (short-term rental policies cost more than landlord cover due to guest liability)
• Maintenance and furnishing replacement: $6,021 (turnover wear is included; do not double-count the $20,250 upfront furnishing as a recurring item)
• Utilities: $2,964 (paid by the host for short-term rental, around $247/month)
• Property tax: $5,758 (0.9% of sale price; Florida has no state income tax to offset)

If you choose to hire a professional manager instead of self-managing, add approximately $10,838 (roughly 20% of revenue). That alone would erase most of the short-term rental advantage over a tenanted long-term rental at 1.8% net yield. Long-term rental costs total $19,189 (insurance $7,410, maintenance, property tax, vacancy already priced into the 94% occupancy figure), leaving $11,398 net.

Hollywood's Permit Rules and Florida's 9.5% Lodging Tax Reshape the Fort Lauderdale Calculation

Florida levies a combined lodging tax of around 9.5% on every short-term rental booking (state 6% plus Broward County tourist development tax). This is collected from the guest, not deducted from the host's revenue, but it raises the effective nightly price the guest pays and may compress occupancy in price-sensitive shoulder seasons.

Hollywood has the strictest local rules in the county: a $500 Vacation Rental License (renewals $350), mandatory noise monitoring with 180-day data retention, a 60-minute responsible-person response requirement, and $1 million liability insurance. Properties also need a Broward County Business Tax Receipt and a Florida DBPR license. The rest of Broward is more permissive, with no countywide night cap, but compliance overhead is real and worth pricing in. neighbors like Coral Gables (banned), Key Biscayne (15-day minimum stay), and several other South Florida jurisdictions tightened rules in 2025; assume that direction of travel for any 5-year hold thesis.

Tax Implications for Fort Lauderdale Investors

Florida is a no-state-income-tax jurisdiction, which improves after-tax returns by several percentage points versus equivalent properties in California or New York. The federal depreciation schedule allows roughly $17,964 per year as a non-cash deduction, calculated as $494,000 (around 80% of the sale price, the IRS land-versus-building convention) divided over 27.5 years. That deduction alone exceeds the modelled net operating income for both strategies, meaning a leveraged investor will typically generate paper losses even on a cash-positive property.

Mortgage interest is fully deductible on Schedule E with no SALT cap, and the 1031 exchange remains available for tax-deferred swaps when exiting. Investors who participate in short-term rental operations (averaging stays under 7 days, with personal involvement) can sometimes deduct losses against active income, a advantage over passive long-term rental treatment. Confirm material-participation status with a CPA before relying on it.

Fort Lauderdale Yields Slightly Below Both Florida and National Averages

Comparison of key investment metrics.

Fort Lauderdale's 5.0% long-term gross yield trails Florida's 6.1% state average, because Broward sale prices ($617,500) sit far above the state median ($384,493). It is a premium-market trade-off: investors accept lower yield in exchange for the appreciation profile and tourism demand of a coastal South Florida county. Compared to the US median yield of 5.3%, Broward sits slightly below national, but the absence of state income tax and the short-term rental upside that inland markets cannot replicate help offset the lower headline yield.

Investment Bottom Line for Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale is a yield-acceptable, demand-strong, regulation-manageable market where the short-term rental versus long-term rental answer depends entirely on how hands-on the investor is willing to be. Self-managing operators in Pompano Beach (33069), Miramar (33023), or Oakland Park (33309) who can sustain 51%+ occupancy will outperform a passive long-term rental strategy. Investors who want a set-and-forget rental should accept the 1.8% long-term net yield and skip the operational complexity.

For a state-level overview, see Florida rental market insights. The same short-term versus long-term question plays out differently in nearby markets: Fort Lauderdale Apartments Outperform Houses on Rental Yield, Fort Lauderdale Real Costs: House vs Apartment After Airbnb Fees and West Palm Beach Airbnb Nets $25,953 After Costs on a House show how regulation and price-point shift the answer. Methodology details are in data sources and the market score methodology.

Data reflects market conditions as of May 2026.

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.