What a luxury villa actually earns, by destination
The headline rate is the trap. Two markets can quote the same nightly price and pay their owners twice apart, because one sells all year and the other sells a single season. This ranking is gross annual income for the same four-bedroom reference villa, counted the only way that survives contact with reality: nights actually sold.
| # | Destination | Gross a year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Barts | €281,000 |
| 2 | Maui | €256,000 |
| 3 | Anguilla | €219,000 |
| 4 | Big Island | €188,000 |
| 5 | Aspen | €184,000 |
| 6 | Turks and Caicos | €180,000 |
| 7 | Miami | €170,000 |
| 8 | Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat | €166,000 |
| 9 | Barbados | €144,000 |
| 10 | Dubai | €135,000 |
| 11 | Los Cabos | €129,000 |
| 12 | Palm Beach | €123,000 |
Gross annual income, four-bedroom home, counted on nights actually sold. Before the cost of letting. Where we hold too few observations to be honest, we publish nothing, so some famous names are absent by choice.
Nights sold, never occupancy
Most estimators quote an occupancy percentage. Fifty percent occupancy sounds precise and means one hundred and eighty-two nights. Saint-Tropez does not sell one hundred and eighty-two nights. It sells about fifty-five. An occupancy figure overstates a seasonal market by a factor of two, and the top villa markets are the most seasonal of all. We count nights, then multiply by rate. Nothing else.
Why the year-round markets win
The names at the top of this list are not the most expensive per night. They are the ones that sell through the calendar. A Caribbean or Hawaiian villa working two hundred nights at a good rate beats a Mediterranean trophy that works one glorious season. If income is what you care about, read the ranking, not the postcard.
What this is not
This is gross, before the cost of letting. A villa does not keep what it earns: management, staff, the platform cut, marketing, wear and the void weeks all come out first. We set out where that money goes in what we do. And this is the market, not your villa. Your view, your address and your finish move the number more than the destination does.
Now do it for your home
Three questions. Free. On nights sold, never occupancy. And a number we would defend in front of you.
Estimate my home →Published 15/07/2026. Figures generated from our live benchmark data and updated on recalibration.