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Airbnb Income in Albania by City: Real 2026 Numbers
Vlorë hosts earn the most in Albania, about €1,163 a month on average; Durrës Plazh earns the most predictably, with documented gross yields of 7–11%; and Ksamil earns less per listing than Sarandë next door, about $5,495 a year against $6,960, despite costing more per square metre. The figures come from AirDNA, AirROI and Airbtics, not agency pages.
| City | Avg. income | Occupancy | ADR | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vlorë | €1,163/month (highest in the country) | 46.6% (Aug: 70%) | ~€98 (Aug peak) | 🟢 |
| Durrës, Plazh | est. €4,000–9,000/year, top 10% €15,000+ | 33–56% | $56–82 | 🟡 |
| Sarandë | ~$6,960/year | 40.9% | $94 | 🟡 |
| Ksamil | ~$5,495/year | 38.3% | lower despite higher entry price | 🟡 |
| Tirana | ~€700/month | 40–62% (providers disagree) | $49–56 | 🟡 |
Vlorë's figure is the country's cleanest data point — it comes from an AirDNA dataset covering all of 2023 rather than a marketing-page snapshot, and it holds up against the same source's own August peak (ADR ~€98, 70% occupancy). Durrës is measured by three different providers that don't agree with each other (annual income estimates range from €4,000 to roughly €9,000 for the same market), which is why it's presented as a range rather than a point figure — a wide range is more honest than a false-precision average.
Vlorë's lead isn't only a summer rate. The city runs a working port and a student population — put at roughly 84,000 by the 2023 census, a figure DomLivo hasn't yet cross-checked against INSTAT's own release — that keeps long-term rental demand alive through the months Airbnb goes quiet elsewhere on the coast; winter LTR rents there run €250–800 depending on the unit. That's a cushion Sarandë and Ksamil don't have: both empty out from November to March with nothing but Airbnb bookings to fall back on, which is part of why Vlorë's average income holds up better than a resort town's average, which is really just its August number wearing a full-year label.
Ksamil costs more per square metre to buy into than Sarandë, its neighbour six kilometres up the coast. It also earns less on Airbnb — $5,495 a year against Sarandë's $6,960 — while its listing supply grew 86% in a single year. Higher entry price, lower return, and the fastest-growing glut of competing listings on the whole southern coast. If an "investment case" for Ksamil rests on Airbnb income, the numbers underneath it don't support the price being asked.
Since 1 January 2026, every short-term rental host declares income through the DIVA system by 31 March and pays a flat 15% on the amount after the platform's commission — with no deduction for cleaning, management or furnishing costs. The mechanics are shared with the wider property-tax picture: no NIPT business registration is required, the rule is identical for residents and non-residents, and the tax authority receives booking data directly from Airbnb and Booking.com, so informal declarations aren't a realistic option anymore. A non-resident needs an Albanian tax ID to file, which in practice means a local representative or accountant.
That 15% comes off every figure in the table above. Vlorë's €1,163 gross becomes roughly €990 net of tax alone, before management fees.
Durrës Plazh's 7–11% gross yield estimate is the most useful number on this page precisely because it's a yield, not a headline income figure — it already accounts for the lower entry price that makes Durrës the most affordable coastal city to buy into. Vlorë wins on absolute euros per month; Durrës Plazh is the more defensible case on return relative to what you paid, and it's also the zone with the most independent data behind it rather than a single provider's estimate.
Winter is the part every one of these numbers hides. Sarandë and Ksamil both show occupancy in the high 30s to low 40s as an annual average — the real number is close to 100% in August and close to empty from November to March. Budget for that swing, not for the average.
Every figure in the table is what the listing earns before anyone gets paid to run it. A local property manager typically takes 20–25% of that for cleaning, guest communication and turnover — on top of the 15% DIVA tax above, not instead of it. Vlorë's €1,163 gross becomes closer to €740–790 once both come off, still the strongest number on the coast, just not the headline figure everyone quotes.
The top of the market looks nothing like the average. In Ksamil, villas with a pool earn $35,000–66,000 a year against the zone's $5,495 median — a 6–12× spread that says more about the property than the location. And the guests paying for that top tier skew heavily French and German (a combined third of Ksamil's bookings), which matters for anyone deciding how to furnish and market a unit: the audience isn't the same as Tirana's business-travel Airbnb market, and shouldn't be priced or photographed the same way.