The Homevy Monthly Index – March 2026 Edition

March 2026 was the hardest month we’ve ever had at Homevy.

It was the hardest month every short-term rental operator & regular business in Dubai has ever had.

In fact…it was the hardest month Dubai has ever had.

Now if you’ve been following the Monthly Index since October, you already know we don’t hide from bad months.

On February 28, 2026, the US-Iran conflict war began. Within days, Dubai’s entire hospitality market got turned upside down. Airspace closures, mass flight cancellations, travel advisories from multiple countries…the list goes on. Over 80,000 short-stay bookings were cancelled in a single week.

This was something none of us have dealt with before.

Regardless – in the spirit of transparency, here’s what we did, what we learned – and where we go from here.

First, a Quick Look Back at February

February was shaping up to be a strong month for us.

The Valentine’s Day window was exactly as we expected. Short stays, premium bookings, couples looking for sweet views and romantic getaways. We leaned into it and it paid off.

Then Ramadan started toward the end of the month, and we began the usual transition: longer stays, adjusted pricing, different guest profiles.

Image by Homevy

Going into the last week of February, we were feeling good…perhaps on top of the world even. Occupancy was solid, bookings were flowing, the team was ramping up volume. Oh what a time to be alive.

And then February 28 happened.

What Happened to Dubai’s Short Term Rental Market in March

Before we get into Homevy’s numbers, let’s look at what happened to the market as a whole. Because this is an important context.

Dubai’s short-term rental market in March 2026:

Occupancy across Dubai dropped 41% in a single month. Booking lead time fell 29%, meaning people were either booking last-minute or not booking at all.

And it wasn’t just holiday homes.

Hotel bookings dropped over 60% across the city. The WTTC estimated the region was losing $600 million per day in tourism revenue.

In a report by the National News, a popular property management company; bnbme Holiday homes, publicly reported going from 90% occupancy to less than 20%. “Cancellations have been coming in from online travel agencies, who are forcing us to cancel guests who booked non-refundable bookings,” Vinayak Mahtani said in a recent report.

But here’s the thing most people may miss in the Dubai market data: average stay duration went UP.

Everything else crashed – occupancy, bookings, lead time… all down. But stay duration increased 4.1% to 10 nights. This signaled to us that the short-stay “tourist” demand was disappearing, and longer-stays were in demand.

Most operators didn’t catch that. We did.

How Homevy Performed in March 2026 Against the Dubai Airbnb Market

Okay. Here’s how Homevy performed in March 2026.

Image by Homevy

Let’s break these down a little.

• 65.1% occupancy

Now this is never where we want to be. In January, we were at 91.4% occupancy.

But when more than half the Dubai market is sitting empty at 43.2%… keeping two-thirds of our portfolio booked is a result we can stand behind. We outperformed the Dubai average by 21.9%. In a month where the entire market was tough.

• 13.9-night average stay

If you’ve been following the Monthly Index, you know our average stay is usually around 6-7 nights. That’s normal tourist behavior. Short trips, weekend getaways, holiday bookings, etc.

13.9 nights is nearly double that. Yet, it didn’t happen by accident.

We saw where the demand was, and we went after it. The people booking in March weren’t tourists. They were;

• people who needed housing in Dubai

• “relocators”

• families who were already here

• extended ‘stayers’ whose flights got cancelled

• people who needed somewhere to live for weeks

How Homevy Outperformed Dubai Airbnb Market During the US-Iran Conflict

When the conflict hit on February 28, we sprung into action.

Within the first week, the team repositioned the entire portfolio for longer + monthly stays.

We went after the demand that was in the market; Facebook groups, WhatsApp communities, direct enquiries, etc.

We communicated to property owners proactively – we didn’t wait for them to call us asking why bookings dropped. We reached out first. Explained what’s happening, what we’re doing about it, and what the realistic outlook looks like.

Image by Homevy

We advised owners not to panic-switch to long-term leases – when the market crashes, the first instinct is to put your property into a 12-month contract just to “have something.”

But that locks you in at extremely low rates with no flexibility to re-enter the nightly market when things stabilize. Monthly stays keep that door open. (btw we wrote a whole breakdown on this: STR vs LTR in Dubai 2026.)

We opened up pet-friendly stays at select properties – it’s a segment most operators completely ignore, and it’s been generating some bookings for us.

And here’s the thing… we’re still signing new properties.

The tourists may have left Dubai, but the residents didn’t…and our strategy has adjusted accordingly.

A Tool We’re Building for Our Properties

Regardless of all that’s happening, our tech team has been working on the product side.

We’re building a tool that will help us optimize our listings at an insane level.

It’s not ready yet, and we’ll share more when it is.

Even in the middle of the hardest month we’ve ever had, the team is still building and pushing forward…because the market will recover. And when it does, we want our properties will be in the best position to capture that demand.

Homevy’s Guest Review of the Month

While everything was happening…guests were still having incredible experiences at Homevy properties.

Image Screenshot from Homevy Airbnb Profile

This review came in from a business traveler and it honestly made our week.

Even in the toughest month…our standards remains the same, war or no war 😎

Outro: What We’re Doing for April & Moving Forward

Monthly and extended stays remain our primary strategy.

All properties are being maintained in guest-ready condition. And we’re building our pipeline so when nightly demand returns, whether that’s Q3 or later, our properties are positioned to capture it immediately.

If you’re a property owner in Dubai and you’ve been watching all of this unfold wondering what to do with your unit… contact Homevy today.

We’ve been transparent about every single month since we started this index. October was strong. November was incredible. December humbled us. We bounced back in January. February started well and ended with a shock.

March was the hardest month yet.

Yet, just like that Vybz Kartell song, we’re standing strong.

Send us your property details on WhatsApp and we’ll give you an honest breakdown of what your unit could be doing right now.

See you next month!

Xoxo,

Gossip girl Homevy girl.