The Bristol holiday let market

Bristol sits within the South West holiday let and serviced accommodation market. Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and became a county in its own right in 1373, growing into one of England's most important port cities. We arrange holiday let mortgages, serviced accommodation mortgages, bridging, development finance, remortgages and portfolio facilities on short-let property across the county, covering 2 catchments, led by Avonmouth and Bristol.

The market figures below are reported nationally or at regional level by the sector's research sources, attributed to each source, and used as context rather than a Bristol-specific measurement. The sale-price data is genuinely local and sourced from HM Land Registry price paid records.

Holiday let catchments across Bristol

Bristol is reached via M5 J18, A4, M49 J1, A403 and M4 J19, and good access plus recognisable destinations are what drive the bookings and nightly rates a short let can achieve. Planning and short-term-let licensing questions are determined locally by Bristol City Council, and a lender will want the position confirmed where it applies.

Occupancy, nightly rates and yields

Across the UK there are around ~300,000 listings active short-term-let listings (AirDNA, UK Short-Term Rental Outlook, 2025), with average occupancy of around 60% and indicative average daily rates of ~£170 a night (AirDNA, UK Short-Term Rental Outlook, 2025). For this region, occupancy runs at about 65% (South West, AirDNA, UK Short-Term Rental Outlook, 2025) and nightly rates at about 200 £/night (South West, AirDNA, UK Short-Term Rental Outlook, 2025).

What a holiday let earns

Sykes reports indicative gross annual earnings of around ~£24,000 a year for a let holiday property (Sykes Holiday Cottages, Staycation Index 2025, 2025 index), though the figure varies widely by region, size and occupancy, and South West holiday lets are reported nearer 30000 £/yr (Sykes Holiday Cottages, Staycation Index 2025, 2025). Indicative gross holiday-let yields run around around 6 to 10% (Sykes Holiday Cottages / Savills leisure research, 2025), ahead of typical long-term lettings but against higher management cost and seasonality.

Holiday let demand signals in Bristol

Around around 80% of UK holiday-let demand is domestic staycation trips (VisitEngland, GB Tourism Survey, 2024), which keeps well-located South West stock letting through the year.

Holiday let finance in Bristol

We arrange the full range of holiday let and serviced accommodation finance across Bristol: holiday let mortgages and serviced accommodation mortgages on trading short-lets, bridging for conversions and auctions, development finance for builds and major conversions, and remortgages and portfolio facilities for the long-term hold. Send us the deal and we will come back within one working day.

Holiday let market figures are published nationally or at South West level (Sykes Staycation Index owner earnings; AirDNA short-term-rental analytics; Savills leisure research) and are presented as context for Bristol rather than a county-specific measurement. Housing-transaction figures are HM Land Registry price paid data for the towns we track.