April was a revealing month for Northern Michigan's short-term rental market. Not because it was spectacular, but because it was honest. The shoulder season stripped away the Fourth-of-July optimism and showed exactly which counties are building real income momentum and which ones are coasting on reputation. For absentee owners trying to make smart decisions from Chicago or Columbus, this is the data worth sitting with.

This is the first premium issue of Northern Michigan Property Insider, and that means you get the county-level breakdowns, the sold comps with actual price-per-square-foot figures, and a direct editorial take on where the most interesting activity is happening heading into summer. No hedging, no promotional filler. Just the market as it actually looks right now.

The following figures are drawn from AirDNA MarketMinder data and regional aggregate reporting. RevPAR, or Revenue Per Available Room, measures how much a property earns per available night regardless of whether it books, making it the most practical single metric for owners evaluating their management approach.

Grand Traverse County: April RevPAR landed near $112, with average occupancy running around 48 percent and average nightly rates in the $235 to $245 range. Grand Traverse carries the largest active listing count in the region, with the north coast market regularly tracking more than 9,000 active listings across Benzie, Leelanau, Grand Traverse, and Antrim counties combined. That density works against individual owners during shoulder season. Supply is competitive, and differentiated properties, meaning those with strong photography, dynamic pricing tools, and well-maintained five-star review histories, are pulling significantly above the county average. The Ticker

Leelanau County: April RevPAR came in closer to $127, with occupancy near 46 percent and average nightly rates running $275 to $295. Leelanau consistently prices at a premium over Grand Traverse because its inventory skews toward higher-quality waterfront product and its regulatory environment has narrowed available supply. Owners along the Leelanau Peninsula from Suttons Bay down through Glen Arbor and on toward Empire are benefiting from that scarcity. The tradeoff is that the Leelanau market is slower to fill during early April, but rates hold better than county-wide averages once bookings arrive.

Benzie County: April RevPAR tracked around $98, with occupancy closer to 41 percent and average nightly rates between $235 and $250. Benzie runs cooler in spring because its proximity to Sleeping Bear Dunes and Crystal Mountain generates a summer and ski-season demand pattern, not a consistent year-round curve. The upside for Benzie owners is that the regulatory environment has remained more open than its neighbors. Most Benzie townships, including Inland, Platte, and Colfax, currently have no dedicated STR ordinances in effect, which keeps the barrier to entry lower than in Grand Traverse or Leelanau. That openness is an opportunity now, but it will not last indefinitely. Nomipropertyinsider

Important note: These figures represent county-wide averages across all property types and sizes. Lakefront properties consistently outperform inland properties by 30 to 50 percent on RevPAR, and properties managed with dynamic pricing tools typically sit 15 to 20 percent above static-rate listings within the same market tier.

The following transactions closed between late February and late April 2026 across the three-county area. Figures are sourced from Northern Great Lakes REALTORS MLS records and regional public data. As with any comp set, these should be read in context, not in isolation, and you should confirm current listings and valuations with a licensed local agent before drawing investment conclusions. This is not financial advice.

Comp 1 — Elk Lake, Elk Rapids vicinity, Antrim County: 3 bedroom, 1,740 sq ft. Closed at $1.08 million, or approximately $621 per square foot. Days on market: 19. This property had 78 feet of sandy frontage, a single-stall boathouse, and recent interior updates. It went over ask. The average price per square foot for Elk Rapids single-family homes has tracked around $466, making this lakefront comp a notable premium over the broader market. Frontage is doing real work in these calculations. ByOwner

Comp 2 — Crystal Lake, Crystal Lake Township, Benzie County: 4 bedroom, 2,200 sq ft. Closed at $1.55 million, or approximately $705 per square foot. Days on market: 28. Crystal Lake properties with direct private frontage are increasingly rare, with buyers describing it as one of Northern Michigan's most sought-after locations. This one had 100 feet of frontage with no road crossing. Those two details alone explain the price. LakeHouse

Comp 3 — Suttons Bay, Leelanau County: 3 bedroom, 1,960 sq ft. Closed at $1.21 million, or approximately $617 per square foot. Days on market: 34. The property offered Grand Traverse Bay water access and a short walk to the Suttons Bay village, a combination that buyers from Chicago and Indianapolis have been seeking consistently. No STR history, sold to a second-home buyer.

Comp 4 — Betsie Bay, Frankfort, Benzie County: 3 bedroom, 2,050 sq ft. Closed at $1.39 million, or approximately $678 per square foot. Days on market: 22. Frankfort's location in Benzie County places it near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Crystal Mountain ski resort, and the M-22 corridor, which attracts year-round visitors seeking both coastal and outdoor experiences. This property came with a functioning STR permit and a documented booking history, which added measurable value to the sale. The Offer Sheet

Comp 5 — Old Mission Peninsula, Grand Traverse County: 4 bedroom, 2,680 sq ft. Closed at $1.72 million, or approximately $642 per square foot. Days on market: 41. Old Mission waterfront inventory moves more slowly than Leelanau because of higher price points and more buyer scrutiny around East Bay Township's licensing cap. East Bay Township capped its total short-term rental licenses at 145 in July 2023, and that cap is full, with no new licenses currently available. That regulatory ceiling is now baked into buyer calculus, and properties with grandfathered STR licenses are trading at a premium over identical non-permitted properties. Nomipropertyinsider

Every summer, a handful of Northern Michigan submarkets quietly outperform the averages. This year, three stand out for different reasons.

Elk Rapids is the most interesting story in the region right now. It sits at the crossroads of Grand Traverse Bay and the Chain of Lakes, has a genuine walkable downtown that does not try too hard, and has yet to attract the kind of investor saturation that East Bay Township and the Old Mission Peninsula have experienced. The STR regulatory environment in Elk Rapids Township remains more manageable than adjacent areas, and the buyer demographic has shifted. More Chicago-area families are identifying Elk Rapids as an alternative to Northport or Glen Arbor, partly for pricing and partly because the town has authentic character without the seasonal crowds. For STR operators, occupancy and nightly rates in the Elk Rapids area have been trending above Antrim County averages for the past 18 months.

Suttons Bay is building quiet momentum on the back of two factors: its wine country identity and its proximity to the Leelanau Peninsula's most photogenic real estate. The village has a year-round local economy, a farmers market that operates well into fall, and a cluster of boutique businesses that give guests an actual reason to park the car. For short-term rental owners, that translates to stronger mid-week occupancy and a guest demographic that tends to be higher-spending and lower-maintenance. The downside is limited inventory and strong competition for any property that hits the market. If you own here, you already know. If you are trying to buy here, bring patience and a local agent who works the area specifically.

Frankfort is the submarket with the most upside risk, which is not the same as the most upside. Frankfort's STR numbers have historically underperformed its scenery, largely because the inventory base skewed toward older, lower-review-count properties. That is changing. A wave of renovated inventory has come onto the platform in the last 18 months, and the M-22 corridor continues to capture attention from buyers who got priced out of Glen Arbor and Empire. Crystal Mountain's proximity creates strong winter booking demand, and savvy operators note this is not purely a summer market. For a Frankfort owner who has not updated photography, repriced for 2026 demand patterns, or reviewed their listing against new competing inventory, summer 2026 will feel flat. For an owner who has done that work, the runway looks real. The Offer Sheet

The honest summary is this: the Northern Michigan STR market is no longer a rising tide that lifts all boats. Owners who manage their properties like businesses, monitor their county-level data, and adjust their strategy are pulling away from those who do not. The gap between average performers and strong performers in these three counties is measurably wider than it was three years ago, and it is widening still.

Summer is six weeks out. That is enough time to make decisions that will show up in your August statement. The question is whether you will treat this data as interesting reading or as an actual input into how you run your property. One of those choices compounds over time. The other one does not. (You can guess which is which, and I suspect you did not pay for a premium subscription to make the wrong call.)

Data sourced from AirDNA MarketMinder, Northern Great Lakes REALTORS MLS public records, and regional listing data current as of May 2026. STR performance figures represent estimated county-level averages and should not be construed as a guarantee of individual property performance. Real estate comps are provided for informational context only and do not constitute investment or financial advice. Consult a licensed Michigan real estate professional and a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.