From the Blog
Buying a San Antonio Short-Term Rental in 2026: The Permit, the 12.5% Cap, and the 17% Tax
San Antonio lets you buy a home and rent it out short term, but the rules got more expensive this fall. On October 1, 2026, the Type 2 permit for a standalone short-term rental rose from $450 to $1,000, and between the city, the state, and Bexar County, the hotel occupancy tax on a short stay now runs 17%. Add the 12.5% per-blockface density cap for investor-owned rentals, and the honest number for a San Antonio STR is more than the listing price. Here is the checklist I would run before buying.
San Antonio lets you buy a home and rent it out short term, but the rules got more expensive this fall. On October 1, 2026, the Type 2 permit for a standalone short-term rental rose from $450 to $1,000, and between the city, the state, and Bexar County, the hotel occupancy tax on a short stay now runs 17%. Add the 12.5% per-blockface density cap for investor-owned rentals, and the honest number for a San Antonio STR is more than the listing price. Here is the checklist I would run before buying.
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Two permits, and which one you need
San Antonio requires a permit for every short-term rental inside city limits. Type 1 is for owner-occupied or operator-occupied properties and has no density limit. Type 2 is for standalone, non-owner-occupied rentals and is capped at 12.5% of the single-family to fourplex units on a blockface, one side of a street between intersections, with no rounding up. Permits are valid for three years.
- Type 1, you live there or operate on site: no density cap.
- Type 2, investor-owned with no one on site: capped at 12.5% per blockface.
- Permits run three years and are renewed through the city's portal.
What the October 2026 fee increase changed
Under the FY 2027 budget, the Type 1 permit fee rose from $300 to $450, and the Type 2 permit from $450 to $1,000, a 122% jump on the investor permit, tied to the cost of running the program. Operating without a permit is a Class C misdemeanor with fines of $100 to $500 a day. If a blockface is already at its cap, a special exception from the Board of Adjustment is required, and that is not guaranteed.
The 17% tax stack
Every short stay is taxed: 9% city hotel occupancy tax, 7% general plus 2% Convention Center expansion, 6% state HOT, and 2% Bexar County HOT, which voters approved in November 2025 and the county adopted in October 2026, up from 1.75%. Platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo have collected and remitted the city tax since March 2025, which lifted STR tax collections by 72% to about $9.6 million, and they will not list a unit without a valid permit number.
Tax rates are as of October 2026 and can change; confirm the current stack before you price a stay.
The honest investor checklist
Before you buy a home to run as an STR, verify the blockface has density room for a Type 2 permit, read the HOA or deed restrictions, because many communities ban short-term rentals outright, and check the financing, because investment loans price differently from owner-occupied loans. Build the operating costs into your math: cleaning, management, utilities, insurance, and the 17% tax stack. The best price in a great neighborhood still fails if the address cannot get a permit.
Written by Phyllis Domingo
REALTOR® · TX License 745926 · 100+ homes sold · Helping families move well in San Antonio and the Hill Country since long before the hard part became normal.
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