Short Term Rentals for Sale in Nashville, TN

Why Nashville

Why is Nashville a top short term rental market?

Roughly 17 million visitors a year, bachelorette and music tourism that fills calendars year-round, no state income tax, and a downtown that concentrates demand into a walkable core. AirROI ranks Nashville a top-10 US market for 2026, and AirDNA scores it 83/100 with a $349 average daily rate. The catch, and the opportunity, is regulation: Metro’s permit rules concentrate legal non-owner-occupied STRs into specific zones, which protects the investors who buy inside them.

The 3-Mile Radius

What is the 3-mile radius rule for Nashville STRs?

It is not a law you will find in the code; it is how the zoning map actually shakes out. New non-owner-occupied STR permits are only issued in commercial, mixed-use, office, and downtown zoning districts, and those districts cluster within roughly three miles of Broadway: downtown and SoBro, the Gulch, Midtown and Music Row, Germantown, East Bank corridors, and slices of East Nashville and Wedgewood-Houston. Inside that radius, guests can Uber to everything, nightly rates run highest, and STR income routinely outruns long-term rent. Outside it, in residential zones, new NOO permits are simply not issued.

That is why the smartest STR purchases start with a zoning map, not a listing search. We maintain that map deal by deal.

Permits 101

How does Nashville short term rental permitting work?

Metro issues two permit types. Owner-occupied (OO): you live in the home and rent part or all of it; available in most residential zones. Non-owner-occupied (NOO): the pure investment permit; only issued in the commercial and mixed-use districts above, and banned in RM zones for new applications since January 1, 2022.

The mechanics: about a $313 application fee, a four-sleeping-room cap, proof of $1M liability coverage, a responsible party within 25 miles, and annual renewal. And the rule that surprises buyers most: permits do not transfer on sale. When you buy a “permitted Airbnb,” you are buying a property that is eligible for a new permit, and confirming that eligibility is the heart of STR due diligence. It is the first thing we verify on every deal.

Where To Buy

Where can you buy a short term rental in Nashville?

Two paths: STR-built condo buildings, where the zoning and the HOA were designed for nightly rental, and fee-simple homes and townhomes in eligible districts, where 4-bedroom rooftop-deck product earns the highest gross. Downtown and SoBro offer buildings like Hyve, Muse, Allegro, and Illume. Germantown’s Alora townhomes sit in downtown zoning. Midtown adds Musica and the Odyssey, West End’s volume leader. East Nashville and Wedgewood-Houston deliver new STR-eligible townhome stock like The Jesse and Modernest, and condo-hotel products like VOCE run outside the permit framework entirely, a distinction worth understanding before you compare returns.

Entry prices are directional as of mid-2026; permit eligibility must be verified per property. Many of these are new construction, where builder incentives stack with the tax benefits below.

The Tax Advantage

Bonus depreciation and the STR tax strategy

The 2025 tax law made 100% bonus depreciation permanent for property acquired after January 19, 2025. Paired with a cost segregation study, an STR buyer can often deduct a large share of the purchase price in year one. And because short term rentals with average stays of seven days or less are not treated as passive rental activity when you materially participate, those losses can offset active income, the strategy CPAs call the STR loophole.

Worked honestly: a $900K acquisition might segregate 20 to 30 percent into 5-, 7-, and 15-year property, generating a first-year deduction in the low-to-mid six figures for a materially participating owner. This is the single biggest lever in STR investing right now, and not one competitor page in Nashville explains it. We are not your CPA, and you should absolutely involve one; we will make sure the property and the numbers support the strategy before you buy.

The Real Numbers

What does a Nashville STR actually earn?

Market averages ($40.9K trailing-twelve-month revenue per listing) blend downtown 4-bedrooms with suburban spare rooms, so ignore them. The product that works: a well-located, well-designed 4-bed near downtown grossing $80K to $160K+. From gross, underwrite like an operator: 25 to 35 percent for management, cleaning, and platform fees, plus insurance, taxes, utilities, furnishing reserves, and the occupancy dips of January and February. We underwrite every property with you before you offer, using comp-set data, not listing-agent projections.

Why Work With BDG Partners

Why STR investors choose BDG Partners

We treat short term rentals as businesses, not listings. Every recommendation comes underwritten with comp-set revenue data, permit eligibility verified in writing, and an honest expense picture, because a beautiful house with the wrong zoning is just a beautiful mistake. Our team knows which buildings hold rate, which floor plans photograph and sleep best, what management actually costs, and which “STR-eligible” listings are not.

We also work the supply side, representing builders and developers bringing STR-zoned product to market, which means early access to new buildings before public release. Compare returns against a long term rental strategy, tour STR-zoned towers, and buy with representation confirmed in writing, all within a team behind $3.25B+ in career sales.

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