When a new home owner recently asked Jersey Shore real estate agent Mike Contino if she should list her Ocean City property on the summer rental market for $7,200 a week, he balked at the price. A rate of $5,500 was much more reasonable and would be scooped up immediately, Contino told the client. A rental agent agreed.
"Just list it at $7,000, see what happens," Contino recalled his client saying. He relented, and the property quickly rented for all seven weeks it was available.
Philadelphia-area residents looking for summer rentals at the Shore this year have found limited options and unprecedented rates — sometimes upwards of $10,000 per week and often more than 10% higher than last summer's average rental rates, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports.
Contino himself, who owns a beachfront property that sleeps up to 14 people in Ocean City, increased his weekly asking price this summer from $12,000 a week to $14,000. It was the first time in five years he upped his rates and not one person seeking to rent negotiated the price, he said.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
Read more about what's driving the rate hikes at PBJ.com.
Get all your business news at the Philadelphia Business Journal.
