Buy a Property, Rent It Daily: The Investor's Guide to Short-Term Rentals in the DR

You're browsing condos in Punta Cana or villas in Cabarete. The beach photos are gorgeous, the price is right, and you're thinking: could this property pay for itself? The short answer is yes — if you understand the market, the legal landscape, and the numbers.

The Dominican Republic welcomed a record 11.6 million visitors in 2025 — a 4.3% increase over 2024 and 13.3% over 2023.^[1] December alone brought nearly 960,000 air arrivals, the highest single month in the country's history. Cruise arrivals added another 2.8 million passengers for the year.^[12]

That torrent of visitors doesn't just fill hotel rooms. It feeds a fast-growing short-term rental market — one that remains remarkably lightly regulated compared to the restrictions buyers face in Barcelona, New York, or Lisbon. This blog walks you through what a foreign buyer needs to know to turn a DR property into a daily rental business.

The Dominican Republic is the Caribbean's top tourism destination by volume, and 2025 confirmed the trend is accelerating. From January to November, 7.88 million travelers arrived by air — a 35% increase over pre-pandemic 2019 levels and 3% above 2024.^[2]

The United States remains the largest source market at 39% of arrivals, followed by Canada (19%), Colombia (6%), and Argentina (6%). Punta Cana handled 51% of total arrivals by airport, followed by Las Américas in Santo Domingo (28%), and Cibao (12%).^[2]

Hotel occupancy averaged above 77% in the first half of 2025, with Holy Week reaching 85%. The government is targeting 15 million annual visitors by 2030 — and with 2,500 new hotel rooms added in 2025 and port infrastructure expanding, the country is building capacity to match.^[2][10]

Short-term rental performance varies dramatically by location. The data below reflects trailing twelve-month averages (November 2024 – October 2025) from Airbtics and AirROI, covering active Airbnb listings in each market.

Sources: Airbtics (Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, Cabarete — Nov 2024–Oct 2025); AirROI (La Romana — Nov 2024–Oct 2025). ADR = Average Daily Rate. Revenue figures are gross averages across all listing types.^[3][4][5][6]

La Romana stands out as the premium market — driven by luxury villas near Casa de Campo — where top-10% properties earn over $20,000 per month. At the other end, Santo Domingo is a volume play with lower nightly rates but the highest median occupancy at 53% and a strong digital-nomad segment.

Seasonality matters. Peak season runs from December through April, with February and January often posting 70–90% occupancy in beach markets. The shoulder months (May, September, October) require pricing discipline and marketing to maintain cash flow. Strong seasonality in Punta Cana; more limited seasonality in Santo Domingo.^[3][5]

One of the Dominican Republic's most attractive features for rental investors is what doesn't exist: there are currently no nationwide restrictions on short-term rentals. No maximum-night caps, no host-present requirements, no lottery systems for licenses. Individual condo associations and resort communities may have their own rules, but at the national level the regulatory environment is permissive.^[10]

Law 85-25: The New Rental Law (2025)

In 2025, the Dominican Republic enacted Law 85-25, a comprehensive rental law replacing the decades-old framework (Law 4314 of 1955). The key provision for daily rental operators: the law explicitly excludes tourist or recreational rentals of 90 days or less from its scope. This means short-term vacation rentals remain outside the general tenant-protection framework — you won't face the rent-control caps or lengthy eviction procedures that apply to long-term residential leases.^[8]

Tax Obligations for Short-Term Rental Hosts

Dominican law does not differentiate between short-term and long-term rental income for tax purposes. If you operate a short-term rental, you are required to:^[7]

Source: Airbnb Tax Guide 2025 — Dominican Republic, prepared by an independent third-party law firm. Always consult a local accountant to confirm current requirements.^[7]

If you're buying in a tourism zone — Punta Cana, Las Terrenas, Cabarete, Samaná, Bayahíbe, Jarabacoa — there's a good chance your property sits inside a CONFOTUR-approved development. Law 158-01, known as the CONFOTUR law, was designed to stimulate tourism investment and offers significant tax relief to first-time buyers of qualifying properties.^[9]

Buying the property is step one. Running a profitable daily rental is an ongoing operation. Most foreign investors choose one of two approaches:

Regardless of approach, expect net income to be 50–65% of gross revenue after management fees, cleaning, utilities, maintenance, insurance, and platform fees. On a $20,000/year gross revenue in Punta Cana, that translates to roughly $10,000–$13,000 net before taxes.

Multi-platform listing is critical. Don't limit yourself to Airbnb — list on VRBO, Booking.com, and consider direct booking websites. In Punta Cana, about 68% of guests are international; in Cabarete, 83% are international, predominantly from the United States. Tailor your marketing accordingly.^[3][5]

The Dominican Republic offers a rare combination for rental investors: a booming, record-breaking tourism market, a permissive regulatory environment with no national STR restrictions, meaningful tax incentives through CONFOTUR, and property prices that remain attractive by Caribbean standards.

The numbers are real — $13,000 to $53,000 in annual gross revenue depending on market and property type, with top performers earning significantly more. But success requires more than buying in the right zip code. It requires understanding seasonality, managing operations professionally, meeting tax obligations, and choosing a property whose CONFOTUR status and condo rules align with your rental strategy.

Do the homework. Run the numbers on a specific property. And if you need a mortgage to get started, HipoTech can put your application in front of every qualifying bank at once — so you can focus on finding the right deal rather than the right bank.