From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Vacation rental occupancy in 2025 dropped 45 percent in Buncombe County, according to a report released April 16 by the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority report.

The nosedive was driven primarily by the lingering effects of Hurricane Helene, combined with stricter local regulations on short-term rentals, the report noted. 

The drop highlights a shift in tourism, as, despite overall North Carolina tourism gains, Asheville-area property managers reported a sharp decrease in bookings.

AI Overview noted on April 27 that, “while North Carolina saw a record $3 billion in short-term rental revenue in 2025, Buncombe County experienced a sharp divergence from this statewide success.”

Regarding Buncombe’s plunge in vacation rental occupancy, “that decline is also leading some property owners to sell,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on April 16,  

“There’s been an overall decrease in the number of short-term rentals in the area,” realtor Chip Craig, owner of GreyBeard Realty and Rentals, told the TV station. Craig manages around 200 short-term rentals in the region.

“It was really impacted last year. We saw about a 30 percent decrease in the number of reservations that we had than the year before,” Craig told News 13.

“Other property managers say they’ve seen similar trends following the storm,” the TV station noted, citing JT Nicasio, co-founder of Host Haven, who said, “Our boots on the ground was also affected — our cleaners, our maintenance. After the hurricane, there’s definitely a decline.”

Despite the steep 45 percent drop recorded in previous reports, there are strong signs of a “rebound” in 2026, AI Overview stated. 

Specifically, the current outlook for Buncombe vacation rentals is as follows”

• Rising bookings: As of early 2026, room nights booked for the latter half of the year are up 38 percent, compared to 2025.

• Stabilization: Property managers and tourism officials from Explore Asheville report that while the market is not fully back to pre-storm levels, the trend is “definitely positive” and moving in the right direction.

News 13’s “Comment Bubble” appearing after its story included the following assertions:

• liberalcritic — “That’s good news. Maybe people can afford to live here.”

• WAVLNATIVE — “Got nothing to do with it!”

• Commonsenseisback — “I can’t imagine why. Seems tourists don’t like getting constantly harassed by homeless.” 

• WAVLNATIVE — “Just what city council wants, which gives them even more reason to up our taxes!”

• WindRidge — “So, what’s the numbers on hotel rooms?

“Why the emergency city meeting?”

• Johnd18 — “The curse of the Trump economics.” 

• WAVLNATIVE — “No, its the curse of the Democrats!

“They destroy everything they touch!”

• DomBostich9 — “Democrats doing what they do best: destroying all that is good to replace it with all that is bad.”  

• TheOracle — “Now some of your slobs will be able to find affordable housing. For $500K you can buy a little shoebox.”