St. Augustine, FL: Vacation Rental Investment Guide (June 2026)
Oldest-city historic charm + beach. NE Florida Atlantic coast, ~45 min south of Jacksonville.
The Numbers
Median Price
$430,000
ADR
$250
avg daily rate
Occupancy
55%
Proj. Gross Revenue
$50,188
per year · 11.7% gross yield
5-Yr Appreciation
+25%
Property Tax
0.90%
effective / yr
The STR Math
The median St. Augustine deal, run through DSCR math
- Purchase price (median)
- $430,000
- Down payment (20%)
- −$86,000
- Loan amount
- $344,000
- P&I @ 7.91% / 30yr
- $2,503/mo
- Property taxes (0.90%/yr)
- $323/mo
- Insurance (~0.9%/yr, elevated for wind/fire/flood)
- $323/mo
- PITIA (full payment)
- $3,148/mo
- Est. STR gross ($250 ADR × 55% occ.)
- $4,182/mo
Illustrative DSCR
1.33
Above the 1.25 threshold most STR lenders want for their best pricing tiers.
Illustrative only, not a quote or pre-qualification. Uses the June 2026 median price and an ADR × occupancy revenue estimate, an indicative STR rate of 7.91% (10-year Treasury + a typical STR spread — see the live data dashboard), the market's effective tax rate, and estimated insurance bumped for this market's wind/fire/flood exposure. Gross revenue is before cleaning, management, utilities, and platform fees — lenders also haircut projected STR income. Actual numbers vary by property and borrower.
Strategy Check
STR vs long-term rental in St. Augustine
Short-term rental
Wins- Gross income
- $4,182/mo
- Est. PITIA @ 7.91%
- $3,148/mo
- Est. DSCR
- 1.33
Long-term rental
- Lease rent
- $2,500/mo
- Est. PITIA @ 7.53%
- $3,057/mo
- Est. DSCR
- 0.82
Short-term wins on gross by about $1,682/month ($4,182 STR gross vs $2,500 lease rent) — that premium is what pays for furnishing, cleaning, and management, with margin left over if you operate well. Note the fallback: at 0.82 estimated LTR DSCR, lease rent alone doesn't carry the median purchase here — this market's debt wants nightly revenue behind it, so the STR permit picture matters doubly.
Regulation Reality
Can you legally run an STR in St. Augustine?
City of St. Augustine zoning (Ord. 2019-50) bans nightly rentals in RS-1/RS-2 (7-night minimum) and HP-1 historic zones (monthly minimum), with annual registration and fire inspections; nearby St. Augustine Beach and unincorporated St. Johns County are more permissive.
For underwriting, treat nightly-rental revenue as unavailable unless the specific property proves otherwise — a transferable license, grandfathered status, or a location inside an explicitly STR-legal zone. Everything else should be modeled on monthly-or-longer rent (about $2,500/mo here) plus appreciation. That's a different deal — sometimes still a good one — but don't pay an STR price for LTR cash flow.
The Second-Home Angle
Your weekends plus rental income — two ways in
Walkable historic downtown plus uncrowded Atlantic beaches, an easy hop from Jacksonville's airport — a charming, lower-drama Florida base.
That dual-use case — your own stays in the weeks you want, rental income the rest of the calendar — is what separates a vacation market from a spreadsheet market, and it opens a second financing door that pure investment properties don't get.
Second-home conventional
As little as 10% down and rates close to a primary residence. The trade: lenders require genuine personal use, qualify you on your own income (W2/DTI), and limit how much of the year the home can be rented out — and some restrict short-term renting entirely. Best when the house is mostly for you and the rental income is offset, not engine.
DSCR investment loan
Typically 20%+ down, priced off the property, and qualified on the property's rental revenue — projected STR income included — rather than your personal income. No personal-use restrictions: rent it 50 weeks, block your own July, run it like the business it is. Best when the income is the point.
Occupancy rules matter: misrepresenting a rental property as a second home is occupancy fraud. If you want unrestricted rental use, the DSCR route exists precisely so you don't have to stretch the truth.
Appreciation & Exit
The hold case in St. Augustine
St. Augustine has appreciated roughly 25% over the past five years — well ahead of typical national pace. That kind of run doesn't repeat on schedule, but it tells you demand for this market survived rate hikes that froze lesser vacation towns. And the supply side is structurally on your side: coastal land doesn't get manufactured, so well-located inventory near the water stays scarce even when demand cools.
Exit liquidity in vacation markets is buyer-pool-dependent: you're selling to the next investor or second-home buyer, both of whom shop with the same seasonality and regulation facts you're reading now. A property with a transferable permit, a documented revenue history, and a real off-season strategy sells like an asset; one without them sells like a house.
Verdict — eyes open
Buyable — eyes open
- —STR regulation is the obstacle, not the revenue: the regime is restricted, so the headline 11.7% gross yield only applies where short-term renting is actually legal.
- —Where short-term renting is permitted, the math itself works — roughly a 1.33 estimated DSCR and 11.7% gross yield on the median deal.
- —The hold case is real regardless: ~25% five-year appreciation in a supply-constrained coastal market.
The viable path: buy inside the specific zones or communities where STRs remain legal; underwrite it as a monthly/long-term rental (~$2,500/mo) plus appreciation, not an STR cash machine; or finance it as a second home — 10% down conventional with personal use, renting within your lender's occupancy rules.
Insurance note: Flood risk is the issue downtown (repeated hurricane storm-surge flooding); wind premiums are moderate by Florida coastal standards.
Seasonality: Comparatively even calendar — spring/summer beach season plus the Nights of Lights holiday peak (Nov-Jan) keeps winter from cratering.
Data as of June 2026 — refreshed periodically. Town-level estimates for screening, not underwriting; verify comps, permits, and insurance quotes on the specific property.
Next Step
Get a quote from an STR expert who lends in Florida
Real pricing on your actual deal — second-home and DSCR routes compared side by side, qualified on the property's income, no hard credit pull to see numbers.
St. Augustine vacation rental FAQ
Is St. Augustine a good place to buy a vacation rental?
Only with eyes open. City of St. Augustine zoning (Ord. 2019-50) bans nightly rentals in RS-1/RS-2 (7-night minimum) and HP-1 historic zones (monthly minimum), with annual registration and fire inspections; nearby St. Augustine Beach and unincorporated St. Johns County are more permissive. The workable angles in St. Augustine: the long-term/monthly rental play (about $2,500/mo), second-home financing with personal use, or buying a property where short-term renting is already legal — not a generic Airbnb purchase (June 2026 data).
Can I make money on Airbnb in St. Augustine?
Where short-term renting is legal, the unit economics are real: a $250 market ADR at 55% occupancy is about $4,182 a month gross. But the restricted regime means most properties can't run nightly rentals at all, so the answer depends entirely on buying the right property. Underwrite the specific address, not the market average.
Can a St. Augustine property double as a second home?
Yes — and the dual-use case is much of the appeal. Walkable historic downtown plus uncrowded Atlantic beaches, an easy hop from Jacksonville's airport — a charming, lower-drama Florida base. Two financing routes: a second-home conventional loan (as little as 10% down with owner-occupied-adjacent rates, but lenders impose personal-use and rental-day limits) or a DSCR investment loan (20%+ down, qualifies on the property's rental income, no personal-use restrictions). Given the STR restrictions, the second-home route is arguably the most natural way to own here.
Run the numbers yourself
Calculator
STR calculator — pre-filled for St. Augustine
ADR, occupancy, and median price loaded. Adjust to your deal.
Financing
STR / vacation rental loans, explained
How lenders underwrite projected Airbnb income — and what it costs.
Live Data
Market data dashboard
10Y Treasury, indicative STR rate ranges, and the full leaderboards.
Compare with other vacation markets
Destin, FL
$630,000 median · $440 ADR · 12.7% gross yield
White-sand beach + charter-fishing resort town
Panama City Beach, FL
$385,000 median · $335 ADR · 15.9% gross yield
High-volume family beach + condo strip
Kissimmee, FL
$365,000 median · $245 ADR · 13.7% gross yield
Theme-park vacation-home capital