AirDNA
What is AirDNA?
A short-term rental data analytics platform — the industry-standard source for forecasting vacation rental income on a specific property.
AirDNA is a third-party data company that tracks short-term rental performance across Airbnb, VRBO, and other vacation-rental platforms. It scrapes listings, bookings, and prices across millions of properties to produce two key outputs that lenders care about: a Market Score (data confidence in a given submarket) and a Rentalizer / Property Earning Potential report (a 12-month income forecast for a specific address).
The Rentalizer compares the subject property to 3 or more nearby comparable rentals by bedroom count, amenities, and location, then projects average daily rate (ADR), occupancy, and monthly revenue. For a DSCR lender, this fills the gap that traditional long-term-rental data can’t cover: most STRs would have negative DSCR if calculated against 12-month-lease comps, but they generate substantial positive cash flow on a vacation-rental basis.
AirDNA reports are particularly important for purchase transactions where the property has no operating history yet — without projected income, the buyer would have nothing to underwrite against.
How AirDNA applies at Total Quality Lending
Total Quality Lending accepts AirDNA Rentalizer / Property Earning Potential reports as income documentation for short-term rental DSCR purchases with these requirements:
- Market Score ≥ 60 for the submarket
- 3 or more comparable properties in the report
- 12-month forecast period
- Report dated within 90 days of the Note date
- Max occupancy of 2 per bedroom assumed in the projection
- Report must come from AirDNA’s official Rentalizer product
For refinances where the property has 12+ months of actual STR operating history, tax returns or 12-month bank statements are typically used instead of AirDNA.