I am excited to present my first Tableau dashboard analyzing Seattle Airbnb data from 2016. In this scenario, a customer wants to purchase a house in Seattle to put on Airbnb.com. They want to maximize their revenue from the rental, which means renting to as many people as possible at the highest price they can reasonably charge. The questions we want to answer are:
Where in Seattle are the most profitable rental locations?
What type of homes will have the most demand?
When are the best times to rent out an Airbnb home?
METHODS
Because the demand for an Airbnb rental in Seattle depends on the time of year and the average price of any given home, a dashboard was created to visualize the relevant information. The dashboard was made from the Airbnb Listings 2016 Dataset on Kaggle. This dashboard includes a bar chart showing the average price of an Airbnb by Seattle zip code. This bar chart is accompanied by a map showing the location of each Seattle zip code with the associated average rental price. The chart and map are color-coded to identify each zip code better, and a key has also been provided. A second bar chart shows the average price for a rental based on the number of bedrooms in the rental, with an accompanying table showing the total number of Seattle Airbnb listings for 2016 by bedroom count. Lastly, a line chart shows the total weekly revenue from Seattle Airbnb rentals for 2016.
RESULTS
Most Profitable Locations
Firstly, the Airbnb rentals with the highest prices are mostly within zip codes concentrated in the city's center surrounding Elliot Bay. This area is home to some of Seattle's most popular attractions, including the Space Needle and the Pike Place Market. The zip code with the highest average rental price, 98134, is in Seattle's industrial district, home to many bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and parks.
Home Types with Highest Demands
Second, single-bedroom rentals make up around 70% of all Airbnb rentals in Seattle and have the lowest average price of all rental types. The rental type with the highest average price is the 6-bedroom home, however these make up less than 0.2% of all rentals. Only 3% of all rentals are homes that have between 4 to 6 bedrooms.
Best Times to Rent
Lastly, the total weekly revenue for Airbnb rentals in Seattle has two peaks throughout the year. The first peak is in mid-June at the beginning of summer, and the second peak is at Christmas. Total revenue stays relatively high from June to December. Revenue is at its lowest at the beginning of the year through January to early March, which can likely be attributed to a combination of the frigid cold and an increase in rainy weather during the Seattle winters.
SUMMARY
From this analysis, the best advice for a prospective Airbnb renter in the Seattle area would be to rent out a house around Elliot Bay, preferably within the industrial district, during either summer, fall, or early winter around Christmas. Depending on the customer's preference, they can rent out a 4 to 6-bedroom home to capitalize on the low availability of this type of housing and maximize their revenue.
Click the Tableau icon to view the full interactive dashboard at this link:
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