A listing can make an Airbnb’s bookings look like plenty to carry a mortgage. A lender deciding what you can afford sees them differently: when you buy, it counts half, and only against the house’s own payment.
Can you use short-term rental income to qualify for a mortgage?
A lender can count short-term rental income, within limits. For a loan headed to Fannie Mae, they’re in its short-term rental rule, dated September 2, 2026:
- One-unit investment properties only. That’s a single home you rent out and don’t live in. A duplex doesn’t qualify, and neither does an ADU (accessory dwelling unit), the small second home some lots have.
- It has to be legal. The home must be allowed to operate as a short-term rental, including any local registration and license.
- Short-term means brief stays in a furnished home, typically under 30 days in a row.
- You need a housing payment now. Before using any rent from this home, the lender has to document what you pay for the place you live: rent, a mortgage, or the property taxes on a home you own outright.
Under Fannie Mae’s general rental income rules, rent from a home you live in or a second home generally can’t count.
How does a lender count Airbnb income?
A lender starts from a monthly gross rent, and on a purchase it can take that figure from either of two sources:
- the appraiser’s estimate of what the home would rent for on a standard long-term lease, or
- data on three similar short-term rentals, from the MLS (the listing service agents use) or from property managers: their rates and how many days each was rented last calendar year. The lender averages the rates and multiplies by the average days rented.
It takes 50% of that gross and subtracts PITIA: principal, interest, property taxes, insurance and any association dues, the home’s full monthly payment. Fannie Mae says the other 50% accounts for vacancy losses and maintenance. What’s left is called adjusted net rental income.
If that figure is positive, the lender may use it to offset the home’s own payment and nothing more. If it’s negative, the shortfall counts as a debt in your debt-to-income ratio, your monthly debts divided by your monthly income.
On a refinance, a home already on Schedule E of your latest tax return, the form for rental income, is judged on that return, averaged over 12 months. Otherwise the 50% method applies.
If you’ve read that lenders count 75% of rent, that’s Fannie Mae’s rule for a rental on a standard lease. Under that rule, once you have 12 months of experience managing rentals, whatever is left after the payment can count as income.
One $350,000 Airbnb through the lender’s test
Take a $350,000 house bought with 20% down on a 30-year loan at 7%. Property taxes are $4,200 a year and insurance is $2,400, so the full payment comes to $2,413 a month. Say three similar listings nearby average $375 a night and were rented about 237 nights last year, 65% of the year. The second column adds every running cost the short-term rental calculator counts.
| Fannie Mae’s test | Every cost counted | |
|---|---|---|
| Booking income | $7,414 | $7,414 |
| Fannie Mae’s 50% for empty nights and upkeep | −$3,707 | – |
| Airbnb’s fee, co-host, cleaning, supplies, utilities and repairs | – | −$4,173 |
| Property taxes and insurance | −$550 | −$550 |
| Mortgage | −$1,863 | −$1,863 |
| Left after the payment | +$1,294 | +$828 |
These are example figures, not a forecast for any market.
The house passes with $1,294 to spare, but that $1,294 isn’t added to your income. It only cancels out the house’s own payment, which then isn’t counted against you. Your own income still has to cover everything else, including the rent or mortgage on the home you live in.
The lender’s half is meant to cover empty nights and upkeep. On this house, the running costs other than taxes and insurance take more than half: $4,173 a month, or 56% of the booking income. That’s Airbnb’s host fee, which its help center put at 15.5% for most hosts on its single fee in September 2026, plus this example’s 20% co-host (someone who handles guests for a cut of bookings), $450 a month for cleaning and supplies, $350 for utilities and 10% of income set aside for repairs.
The lender could use the appraiser’s long-term rent instead. Say this house would lease for $2,800. Half of that is $1,400, which leaves a $1,013 shortfall that counts against your income. Ask the lender which figure it will use.
Can an Airbnb pass the lender’s test and still lose money?
An Airbnb can pass the lender’s test and still lose money, and this one does across a wide band of booking rates. The test only asks whether half the income covers the payment. Your bank account also pays the fee, the co-host, the cleaners and the utility bills.
| Nights a year | Fannie Mae’s test | Cash flow | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 65% booked | 237 | +$1,294 | +$828 |
| 60% booked | 219 | +$1,009 | +$517 |
| 55% booked | 201 | +$724 | +$206 |
| 50% booked | 183 | +$439 | −$105 |
| 45% booked | 164 | +$154 | −$415 |
Between about 42% and 52% booked, roughly 154 to 189 nights a year, this house passes the lender’s test and still costs you money every month. Below about 42%, it fails both. A pass means the lender’s arithmetic works, not that the house pays. To find the booking rate where an Airbnb covers every cost, see how to work out break-even occupancy.
What about a DSCR loan for an Airbnb?
Some lenders size a loan on the property’s income rather than yours. These are often called DSCR loans, after the debt service coverage ratio: the property’s income after running costs, divided by its loan payments. Measured that way, this house scores 1.44 at 65% booked and 0.94 at 50%. Below 1.00, the income doesn’t cover the payments.
These loans aren’t written to Fannie Mae’s rule, so each lender decides how much short-term rental income counts, how it works out the ratio and what minimum it wants. Ask about all three.
What should you check before you apply?
Before you apply, confirm what the lender will ask for, then test the house yourself.
- The permit. Confirm this address can be rented by the night, with any registration and license the city or county requires.
- Your housing payment. If it isn’t on your credit report, Fannie Mae lets a lender use six months of bank statements or cancelled checks, confirmation from the company that manages the place you rent, or proof you paid your latest property tax bill.
- Two booking rates. Run the house in the short-term rental calculator at the rate similar listings book across a year, then 10 points lower.
If the lender’s test passes and the cash flow doesn’t, the loan will work before the house does. If a lease is your fallback, see how one house compares leased and on Airbnb.