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SUMMARY
Yes, Airbnb is still profitable in Daegu for the right host, but buying an ordinary property purely to run it as a passive nightly rental is a much weaker investment than the headline revenue numbers suggest.
The average Daegu short-term rental is not a huge earner. AirDNA puts occupancy at 47%, the average nightly rate at $65 and annual revenue at about $10,700, which leaves enough room for an efficient owner-operator but not much room for layers of management costs.
The eye-catching 84.4% jump in annual revenue per active listing looks more like a supply reset than a tourism boom. Active listings have fallen 51.3% while occupancy improved and nightly rates declined, so fewer properties are sharing the bookings that remain.
Korea's Airbnb registration crackdown has probably helped compliant operators by removing informal competition. It has also made the entry decision much simpler: licensing has to be solved before revenue projections are worth doing.
The biggest limitation in Daegu is legal structure rather than lack of demand. The common Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay route is geared toward resident hosts serving foreign visitors, while officetels cannot obtain the accommodation registration Airbnb currently requires.
Location therefore matters twice. Areas such as Dongseong-ro, Dongdaegu Station and EXCO have genuine overnight demand, but a host still needs a legal route that allows them to serve the guests generating that demand.
Airbnb's 15.5% host fee makes Daegu's modest revenue base noticeably thinner. Applied to Airbtics' earlier ₩13.88 million median annual revenue, only about ₩11.72 million remains before utilities, cleaning, repairs, supplies, furnishing costs and tax.
Airbnb can comfortably beat a cheap ₩400,000–₩500,000 monthly rental on gross revenue. The advantage becomes much less impressive against properties already capable of earning around ₩1 million a month conventionally.
This is also why outsourcing changes the answer so much. At roughly ₩1 million of monthly revenue after Airbnb's fee, paying for management, turnovers and guest support can eat through the remaining margin surprisingly quickly.
The strongest Daegu Airbnb case is an eligible property in a real demand location run by an owner-operator or properly licensed accommodation business. The weakest case is still the familiar one: an absentee investor buying a cheap apartment or officetel and assuming Airbnb will automatically turn it into a high-yield property.
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Is Airbnb in Daegu still profitable today?
Daegu Airbnb can still make money today, especially for a legal owner-operator in a strong location, but the average numbers are too modest to make every property a good Airbnb investment.
The freshest AirDNA data put Daegu at 935 active short-term rentals, 47% occupancy, a $65 average daily rate and about $10,700 of annual revenue per active listing. RevPAR, which combines rates and occupancy, is $31. Those figures describe a real accommodation market with decent utilization, although the revenue level is still fairly small for someone buying and operating a property purely as an investment.
An earlier 2026 snapshot from Airbtics gives us a useful second view. It counted 1,165 active Airbnb listings, with 51% occupancy, a ₩71,607 nightly rate and median annual revenue of roughly ₩13.88 million. Different providers use different methodologies, so the numbers will not match exactly. What matters is that both put a typical Daegu listing in roughly the same range: around half of available nights booked and only about ₩1 million of gross monthly revenue.
That income can work very well for someone monetizing a home they already own and partly occupy. The calculation gets much tougher once we add acquisition costs, furnishing, cleaning, utilities, Airbnb's fee, taxes and outsourced management.
| Daegu short-term rental metric | Latest AirDNA reading | Earlier 2026 Airbtics reading | What we take from it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active listings | 935 | 1,165 | Daegu remains a fairly small STR market |
| Occupancy | 47% | 51% | Roughly half of available nights are selling |
| Nightly rate | $65 | ₩71,607 | Daegu relies on volume more than premium pricing |
| Annual revenue | $10,700 average | ₩13.88m median | Useful income, but far from spectacular |
| RevPAR | $31 | — | Current listing productivity is improving |
Why did Daegu Airbnb revenue suddenly jump so much?
Daegu Airbnb revenue has surged for the listings still operating, but we would be very careful about calling this a tourism boom.
AirDNA currently shows average annual revenue per active Daegu short-term rental up 84.4% year on year. That headline looks extraordinary until we put it beside the rest of the dataset: occupancy is up 13.1%, RevPAR is up only 9.4%, and the average daily rate has actually fallen 9.1%. Meanwhile, active listings have dropped 51.3%.
Those figures point to a big change in the pool of listings being measured. If demand had nearly doubled, we would expect a much larger jump in occupancy, room rates or RevPAR. Instead, Daegu has fewer active properties sharing the bookings, while the remaining listings are filling more nights at slightly cheaper prices.
The comparison with earlier 2026 makes the reversal even clearer. Airbtics then showed 1,165 listings, with supply up 17.7% year on year and median revenue down 6.8%. Daegu moved from expanding supply and weakening performance into a market where supply has been cut sharply and the remaining properties are doing better.
We cannot prove that every listing disappeared for the same reason. Regulation, data-provider methodology, inactive hosts and commercial decisions can all affect the count. Still, the sequence is too large to ignore when judging profitability today.
| Measure | Earlier direction | Latest direction | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active supply | +17.7% YoY on Airbtics | −51.3% YoY on AirDNA | The market went through a major supply reset |
| Occupancy | −10.7% YoY earlier | +13.1% YoY now | Remaining listings are filling more nights |
| ADR | +3.9% YoY earlier | −9.1% YoY now | Hosts currently have limited pricing power |
| RevPAR | — | +9.4% YoY | Real nightly productivity is improving |
| Revenue per active listing | −6.8% earlier | +84.4% now | Composition and reduced supply are clearly influencing the headline |
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Did Korea's Airbnb crackdown actually change the Daegu market?
Korea's Airbnb registration crackdown has become a real operating constraint in Daegu because Airbnb now blocks listings that cannot prove they have an accepted accommodation licence.
Airbnb began requiring new South Korean listings to submit their accommodation-business information and certificate from October 2024. It extended the rule to existing listings in October 2025. Properties that had been listed before the original rule and still had no accepted certificate could no longer take reservations for stays beginning in 2026. Airbnb's current Korean host guide says only properly registered accommodation can now operate on the platform.
For a host who already has a valid operating route, the cleanup can actually help. There are fewer informal competitors fighting for the same guests. Anyone entering the market now, however, needs to solve licensing before calculating a hypothetical yield.
Can you legally Airbnb a normal apartment in Daegu?
A normal Daegu apartment can sometimes be used for Airbnb, but the common urban-homestay route is built around a resident host rather than a passive investor buying a separate nightly-rental unit.
One of the main legal categories is the Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay Business. The rules are designed around a host sharing residential accommodation while living there, with requirements covering the nature and size of the home, safety and the operation of the business. Airbnb itself lists Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay registration as one of the accepted Korean accommodation categories.
The guest restriction is equally important. Wehome's current legal guide says that Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay hosts outside the Seoul and Busan regulatory-sandbox areas can accommodate foreign guests. Daegu sits outside those two special-case markets.
That changes the investment question completely. A Daegu resident renting part of an eligible home to overseas visitors can have a perfectly sensible Airbnb business. Buying an ordinary apartment, living somewhere else and assuming it can operate as an unrestricted hotel-style unit is much harder to defend.
| Airbnb route in Daegu | Can it work? | Main constraint | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay | Yes, if requirements are met | Resident-host and guest rules | Owner-occupier |
| Licensed accommodation business | Yes | Property and business must qualify | Professional operator |
| Ordinary apartment used as absentee nightly rental | Often problematic | Residential and licensing rules | Weak investment route |
| Officetel Airbnb | No under Airbnb's current guidance | Cannot obtain the relevant lodging registration | Avoid |
| 28+ night rental | Yes nationwide through the relevant rental route | Becomes medium-term rather than nightly accommodation | Investors wanting longer stays |
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Can you run an Airbnb from a Daegu officetel?
A Daegu officetel is currently a bad Airbnb bet because Airbnb explicitly says officetels cannot obtain the accommodation registration needed to operate on its Korean platform.
This is a particularly important trap for property investors. Small officetels around Dongdaegu Station, Jung-gu and Suseong-gu look almost designed for Airbnb: compact units, decent transport, manageable purchase prices and plenty of single-person housing stock.
Airbnb's current Korean registration guide is very clear on the issue. Its FAQ says officetels cannot legally operate an accommodation business under the relevant rules and therefore cannot obtain the required lodging certificate. Airbnb also directs hosts to its guidance on removing officetel and goshiwon listings.
So we would reject the property before ever opening a revenue calculator. A ₩70,000 theoretical nightly rate is useless when the underlying unit cannot access the platform legally.
This single rule also explains why comparing Airbnb revenue with officetel rent requires care. Officetel rents tell us what ordinary small-property investors can earn in Daegu, but the same unit cannot simply switch between long-term rent and legal Airbnb whenever the owner prefers.
Can a Daegu Airbnb host accept Korean guests?
A standard Daegu Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay host cannot build the business around Korean guests, which cuts off a big part of the city's potential short-stay demand.
Wehome's current host rules draw a clear geographic line. In Seoul and Busan, approved shared-accommodation special cases can accept both domestic and foreign guests. Hosts elsewhere, including Daegu, using the Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay route are set up to receive foreign guests.
That restriction deserves more attention than it usually gets. Daegu has business travelers, university visitors, medical trips, concerts, festivals, sports events and people visiting family. A large share of those travelers are Korean. Citywide visitor figures therefore exaggerate the customer pool available to a host operating specifically under the foreign-tourist homestay category.
There is a separate nationwide route for stays of at least 28 nights. Wehome currently allows hosts to accept those longer reservations without accommodation-business registration or a special-case permit. That can suit exchange students, relocations and temporary workers, although the economics start looking more like furnished medium-term housing than classic Airbnb.
For us, this is one of the biggest differences between Daegu and the simplistic version of Airbnb investing people often have in mind. Demand exists, but the legal route determines which part of that demand a particular host can actually serve.
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Is Airbnb demand in Daegu getting stronger now?
Daegu Airbnb demand is healthier today than it was earlier in the year, although guests are filling more nights partly because hosts have become more aggressive on price.
AirDNA's latest completed-month data show occupancy at 47%, up 13.1% year on year, while RevPAR has risen 9.4%. The average booked nightly rate has fallen to $65, down 9.1%. In plain English, Daegu hosts are currently selling more of their available nights even though the average price of those nights has slipped.
That is fairly good news. Filling additional rooms while cutting prices is still preferable to seeing both rates and occupancy fall. It also tells us something about Daegu's market: demand seems sensitive to value, so a host who prices too aggressively can lose occupancy quickly.
Seasonality is another positive. AirDNA gives Daegu a 95/100 seasonality score, meaning the gap between its stronger and weaker revenue months is relatively small. A Daegu property therefore depends less on one summer or cherry-blossom peak than many leisure destinations do.
The combination makes sense for the city. Daegu has leisure visitors, but it also has rail traffic, universities, hospitals, exhibitions and business travel. Those different reasons for staying help spread bookings across the calendar.
Does Daegu have enough overnight visitors for Airbnb to keep working?
Daegu has enough overnight demand to support a short-term rental market, but the city rewards precise locations far more than a generic "Daegu" investment thesis.
The current occupancy figures already prove that guests are booking accommodation consistently. What they do not tell us is that every residential neighborhood has the same demand. Daegu's strongest short-stay generators are concentrated around transport, central entertainment districts and major institutional destinations.
EXCO is a good example. The Korea Tourism Organization says Daegu's exhibition and convention center hosts more than 1,000 events each year, covering exhibitions, international meetings and business events. That creates repeated accommodation demand in Buk-gu rather than one annual spike.
Dongdaegu Station serves a completely different traveler. Its advantage comes from the KTX and wider rail network, which makes the area convenient for short business trips, late arrivals and travelers using Daegu as a base.
Then there is central Daegu around Dongseong-ro, Jungangno, Gyodong and Jongno. That is where a visitor choosing Daegu for restaurants, nightlife, shopping and sightseeing has the clearest reason to stay.
We would therefore care more about a five-minute walk to a real demand generator than about saving 10% on the purchase price in a quieter outer district.
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Where does a Daegu Airbnb have the best chance of working?
A Daegu Airbnb has the best chance around Dongseong-ro and Jungangno, Dongdaegu Station and EXCO because those locations give guests an obvious reason to book there.
Central Jung-gu is the easiest leisure case. Dongseong-ro, Gyodong, Jungangno and Jongno put guests close to restaurants, nightlife, retail and central transport. A host there can target travelers who genuinely want to experience central Daegu on foot.
Dongdaegu Station is more functional, and that can be just as valuable. A guest arriving by KTX for one or two nights often cares more about station access than atmosphere. Current rental transactions also show plenty of compact housing around Sincheon-dong and the station area, which explains why investors are naturally drawn there. Recent reported rents include roughly ₩390,000 to ₩570,000 per month for several small officetels around the station, depending on the building and deposit.
EXCO in Buk-gu brings a third type of demand. With more than 1,000 events a year, it can create bursts of conference and exhibition traffic without relying on conventional tourism.
Suseong-gu is more complicated. It is an attractive, higher-income part of the city with Suseong Lake, medical facilities and stronger residential rents, but many of the potential guests are domestic. That becomes a problem when the operator's legal category only permits foreign tourists.
| Daegu area | Why guests stay there | Airbnb strength | Main drawback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dongseong-ro / Jungangno | Restaurants, nightlife, shopping, central sightseeing | Strongest leisure logic | More competition |
| Gyodong / Jongno | Food, cafés, nightlife | Walkable and distinctive | Noise and building suitability |
| Dongdaegu Station | KTX, business trips, short stays | Excellent transport demand | Less leisure appeal |
| EXCO / Buk-gu | Exhibitions and conferences | Recurring event traffic | Demand can cluster around events |
| Suseong-gu | Lake, hospitals, residential visits | Higher-spending catchment | Domestic demand is harder to serve under some licences |
| Outer residential Daegu | Local visits | Lower housing costs | Weak tourism reason to choose the area |
Are Daegu's Airbnb nightly rates high enough to make good money?
Daegu Airbnb nightly rates are low enough that a host has to run the property efficiently; there is very little room for expensive management or poor occupancy.
AirDNA currently puts the booked average at $65 a night, while Airbtics measured ₩71,607 in its earlier 2026 dataset. We are therefore talking about an affordable city market rather than a high-rate holiday destination.
That changes the economics of mistakes. Losing ₩20,000 on a badly priced night is a large chunk of a roughly ₩70,000 booking. Paying someone to handle every guest message, every turnover and every maintenance issue also consumes a much larger share of revenue than it would for a ₩200,000-a-night villa.
The softer recent ADR is another clue. Daegu hosts have managed to lift occupancy while rates fell, suggesting that price remains an important part of why guests choose these properties. There is no strong evidence today that ordinary Daegu listings have enough pricing power to keep pushing rates higher without losing bookings.
We would therefore underwrite Daegu around operational efficiency: compact property, inexpensive turnovers, high review quality, good transit and disciplined pricing.
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How much does Airbnb's new host fee cut Daegu profits?
Airbnb's current 15.5% host fee takes a meaningful bite out of Daegu revenue, especially because the average listing already earns only around ₩1 million a month before other expenses.
Airbnb moved South Korean hosts to its single-fee structure in May 2026. Instead of the older setup where hosts commonly paid a smaller fee while guests paid another service charge, the new structure charges the host 15.5%. Airbnb's own example shows that an unchanged $100 listing price now leaves the host with $84.50. Hosts can raise displayed prices to protect their payout, but that only works if guests accept the higher base price.
If we apply 15.5% to Airbtics' ₩13.88 million median Daegu annual revenue, roughly ₩11.72 million remains after the platform fee. That works out to about ₩977,000 per month before utilities, consumables, maintenance, cleaning, furnishing depreciation and tax.
Taxes also belong in the same calculation. Airbnb's Korean hosting guidance says hosting income is taxable, while its South Korea tax guide notes that accommodation supplied as a business activity can fall within Korea's 10% VAT system depending on the operator's circumstances. Income tax can also apply.
This is why gross Airbnb revenue is a weak profitability metric. Someone quoting ₩14 million of annual bookings as though it were ₩14 million of profit is skipping most of the business.
| Illustrative Daegu Airbnb economics | Approximate amount |
|---|---|
| Airbtics median annual gross revenue | ₩13.88m |
| Airbnb host service fee | 15.5% |
| Airbnb fee at that revenue level | ~₩2.15m |
| Revenue after platform fee | ~₩11.72m |
| Monthly amount after platform fee | ~₩977k |
| Utilities, cleaning, repairs, supplies and tax | Still to deduct |
Does a Daegu Airbnb still beat normal monthly rent?
A well-located Daegu Airbnb can beat ordinary monthly rent on gross cash income, but the gap varies enormously by property and becomes much smaller after operating costs.
The latest transaction data around Dongdaegu show what a normal small rental can earn today. In Sincheon-dong, reported officetel rents average around ₩440,000 a month, with many station-area units clustering around ₩390,000 to ₩570,000. Larger or newer properties can rent for considerably more.
Suseong-gu sits higher. In Doosan-dong, reported officetel rent averages about ₩610,000 a month, while individual newer 80–85 square metre units are around ₩1.01 million to ₩1.15 million. In Beomeo and Manchon, many newer units are similarly well above ₩1 million.
Against a ₩440,000 monthly rent, the earlier Airbtics median of ₩13.88 million in annual Airbnb bookings looks very strong. Even after the 15.5% Airbnb fee, the illustrative STR payout is more than twice ₩5.28 million of annual cash rent.
The comparison becomes much tighter against a property renting for ₩1 million a month. A ₩12 million annual long-term rent already matches or exceeds what a typical Daegu Airbnb keeps after Airbnb's platform fee, before we have paid the extra costs of short-term hosting.
And, as we saw previously, officetels themselves cannot simply be converted into legal Airbnb units. We are using these rents to understand the opportunity cost of housing capital in Daegu, rather than claiming the same property can freely move between both models.
| Example rental benchmark | Approx. annual cash rent | Compared with typical Daegu Airbnb |
|---|---|---|
| ₩440k/month | ₩5.28m | Airbnb gross advantage is large |
| ₩570k/month | ₩6.84m | Airbnb can still have a healthy revenue premium |
| ₩610k/month | ₩7.32m | Premium narrows after STR costs |
| ₩1.0m/month | ₩12.0m | Typical Airbnb looks much less compelling |
| ₩1.15m/month | ₩13.8m | Long-term rent can match typical STR gross revenue |
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What occupancy does a Daegu Airbnb need to beat a cheap monthly rental?
A Daegu Airbnb does not need exceptional occupancy to beat a ₩400,000–₩500,000 monthly rental on revenue, although the real break-even point rises once we pay all the extra hosting costs.
Take a ₩440,000 monthly rental in Sincheon-dong. That generates ₩5.28 million a year in cash rent, excluding the economic value of its deposit.
Using Airbtics' ₩71,607 nightly rate as a rough benchmark, a host would need around ₩6.25 million of annual bookings to keep about ₩5.28 million after Airbnb's 15.5% fee. That works out to approximately 87 booked nights, or about 24% of the year.
Twenty-four percent sounds easy when Daegu's market occupancy is currently much higher. But cleaning, electricity, heating, internet, linen, guest supplies, repairs and taxes all move the practical threshold upward. If a host uses a management company, it rises again.
The calculation is still useful because it shows why owner-operators can make Daegu Airbnb work. If the property is legally eligible, already owned and cheap to run, there is enough revenue headroom over a low monthly rent to pay for some additional work and expenses.
For someone buying an expensive unit with a strong conventional rent, the equation can flip surprisingly fast.
Is Daegu Airbnb still attractive if you outsource everything?
A fully outsourced Daegu Airbnb looks weak at average market revenue because too many people need to be paid from a relatively small monthly pot.
Using Airbtics' earlier median as a benchmark, a typical property generates around ₩1.16 million of gross bookings per month. Airbnb's 15.5% cut reduces that to roughly ₩977,000 before the physical operation of the property starts.
An owner who cleans personally, answers guests, handles minor repairs and manages pricing can keep a large share of what remains. That labor has a value, of course, but the cash margin can still be useful.
A remote investor has a different cost structure. Cleaning has to be purchased, guest communication may be outsourced, turnovers need coordination and every small problem becomes somebody else's paid task. Daegu's average room rate gives us little room to absorb all of that.
This is where the market divides pretty sharply. Active hosts can create decent returns from an eligible property. Passive investors need an unusually good listing, a lower-than-average cost base or stronger-than-average revenue to make the same numbers convincing.
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Has falling Airbnb competition made Daegu more attractive?
Daegu has become more interesting for legal Airbnb hosts because there are far fewer active properties competing for guests while occupancy and RevPAR have improved.
AirDNA's current supply reading is the standout change. Daegu has 935 active short-term rentals in its latest dataset, down 51.3% year on year. At the same time, occupancy has risen and RevPAR is higher.
The composition is also worth looking at. In AirDNA's preceding supply snapshot, 91.4% of Daegu short-term rentals were entire homes, while 65.6% were one-bedroom units. So the market has been heavily concentrated in the exact kind of small, independent property most exposed to licensing and compliance questions.
For a properly licensed host, fewer competing one-bedroom rentals can make it easier to win bookings and maintain occupancy. We would still avoid assuming supply will keep shrinking at this pace. A 50%-plus annual contraction is unusually large, and some listings could eventually return through compliant structures or different accommodation categories.
What we can say confidently is that today's Daegu host is competing in a much thinner field than the market shown by the earlier Airbtics snapshot. That is one of the clearest improvements in the investment case.
Can a foreign or absentee investor realistically run Airbnb in Daegu?
A foreign or absentee investor can own property in Daegu, but running a classic hands-off Airbnb from an ordinary residential unit is currently a poor fit with the city's main home-sharing rules.
The standard Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay route outside Seoul and Busan is oriented toward resident hosts serving foreign visitors. Daegu also lacks the broader Wehome special-case structure currently available in those two cities for accepting both Korean and overseas guests.
Buying a small officetel does not solve the problem because Airbnb's own registration guide says officetels cannot obtain the relevant accommodation licence. Buying a conventional apartment and handing the keys to a management company also does not magically create an accommodation category the property did not qualify for.
The 28-night route is more realistic for some investors. Wehome says hosts nationwide can accept reservations of at least 28 nights without an accommodation-business registration or its shared-accommodation special case. That opens a market for students, temporary workers, relocations and longer business stays.
The economics are different from nightly Airbnb, but the structure may fit a passive Daegu investment much better. Lower turnover and longer stays reduce cleaning and management work while avoiding the need to chase short tourist bookings every week.
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So, is Airbnb still profitable in Daegu?
Yes, Airbnb is still profitable in Daegu for some hosts today, and the current market has actually become friendlier to legal operators. We would still avoid buying an ordinary Daegu property purely on the assumption that nightly Airbnb income will make the investment work.
The operating numbers are respectable. Latest AirDNA data show 47% occupancy and improving RevPAR, while supply has fallen dramatically. Demand also looks relatively steady throughout the year. Daegu has several genuine short-stay engines, particularly central Jung-gu, Dongdaegu Station and EXCO.
The legal side decides who can capture that revenue. Airbnb now requires valid accommodation registration across South Korea. Officetels are excluded under its current guidance. Daegu's ordinary Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay route is geared toward resident hosts and foreign guests, while the more flexible regulatory-sandbox arrangement currently covers Seoul and Busan.
Costs have also become harder to ignore. Airbnb's 15.5% single host fee takes more than ₩2 million from a property earning roughly ₩13.9 million a year before we pay cleaning, utilities, maintenance and tax.
So we end up with three very different Daegu Airbnb businesses.
An owner-occupier with an eligible property close to real visitor demand can still have a good business. The lower competition currently helps that operator.
A properly licensed accommodation business can also work, particularly if it performs above Daegu's average revenue and keeps management costs tight.
A passive investor buying a normal apartment or officetel just to put it on Airbnb has a much weaker case. The legal route is restrictive, average revenue is not especially high, and a good long-term rental can sometimes earn surprisingly close to the short-term figure once costs are deducted.
Our answer is therefore yes, but selectively. Daegu Airbnb remains profitable where the property, licence and operating model already make sense. The easy strategy of buying a cheap studio and relying on Airbnb to manufacture a high yield has largely run out of road.
OUR METHODOLOGY
We approached the question of whether Airbnb is still profitable in Daegu as an investment question rather than relying on a single yield estimate, citywide average or headline revenue figure. We looked at current short-term rental performance, supply and demand, legal operability, guest restrictions, location-specific demand, operating costs and the income available from conventional renting.
For market performance, we used AirDNA's latest Daegu readings for active listings, occupancy, average daily rate, RevPAR, annual revenue, seasonality and year-on-year changes. We compared those figures with Airbtics' earlier 2026 Daegu dataset rather than blending the two providers into one artificial average, since they use different methodologies.
Revenue growth was assessed alongside occupancy, nightly rates, RevPAR and active supply. That is particularly important in Daegu because the number of active listings changed sharply, meaning a large increase in revenue per remaining listing does not automatically imply an equivalent increase in underlying visitor demand.
For legal operability, we relied on Airbnb's Korean hosting and accommodation-registration guidance, including its rules for existing listings, accepted accommodation categories, officetels and the current host service-fee structure. We also used Wehome's guidance for Foreign Tourist Urban Homestays, the Seoul and Busan regulatory-sandbox arrangements and the nationwide route for stays of at least 28 nights.
The statutory framework was checked against Korea's National Law Information Center and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism guidance on Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay businesses. These sources were used to distinguish a resident-host home-sharing model from a passive investor simply operating an ordinary residential unit as nightly accommodation.
For location analysis, we prioritized recurring demand generators over neighborhood reputation. Korea Tourism Organization information on EXCO and central Daegu helped support the discussion of convention demand, Dongseong-ro and the city's principal visitor areas, while Dongdaegu Station was assessed as a transport-driven short-stay location.
Long-term rental comparisons were based on reported property transactions from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Real Transaction Price Disclosure System, with Korea Real Estate Board material used for additional context on the officetel market. Those rents are opportunity-cost benchmarks; we do not assume an officetel can legally switch between conventional renting and Airbnb.
Operating economics include Airbnb's 15.5% host fee and the additional costs that gross booking revenue leaves out, including cleaning, utilities, supplies, repairs, furnishing depreciation, management and tax. National Tax Service guidance was used for the Korean VAT framework, while Airbnb's Korean tax guidance provided hosting-specific context.
Key sources used in this analysis include AirDNA, Airbtics, Airbnb's Korean hosting and registration guidance, Wehome, Korea's National Law Information Center, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Tourism Organization, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Real Transaction Price Disclosure System, the Korea Real Estate Board and the National Tax Service.
The final judgment comes from combining those dimensions rather than letting one statistic decide the answer. In Daegu, profitability depends heavily on the property and licence structure, which guests the operator is legally able to serve, how efficiently the listing is run and what the same housing capital could earn through a conventional rental.
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