Augusta Says Masters-Week Hosts Are Safe. Most of the Airbnb Money Lies Elsewhere.
For weeks, Augusta officials have said their zoning rewrite won't touch the family that leaves town and rents its house for Masters week. Most of the county's Airbnb money is earned some other way.
Homes that booked 14 or fewer nights in the past year made up about one in five Airbnb homes with income in Augusta-Richmond County but held about 6% of that income, according to AirROI, a short-term-rental data firm, which tracked 802 entire homes booked on Airbnb there over the 12 months through October, at asking prices.
That group is a stand-in for an exemption nobody has published, counted on Airbnb calendars while rental bureaus keep their own books. More than 70% of the income sits in about 460 homes that booked past that line in residential zoning districts on the current map, the kind of area the Oct. 14 draft left out of its rental districts.
The week itself grossed just over $5,000, at asking prices, for the median home within 2 miles of Augusta National that booked.
Staff say a final draft will return in December, when the Planning Commission is scheduled to hold another public hearing. Owners are pricing next April now. The wording could shape who lives beside a rental and where lodging tax lands.
Today's zoning ordinance has no short-term rental category; the nearest term is "tourist house." The Oct. 14 draft allowed rentals in six districts, none residential, with no carve-out for the Masters. It required a permit, registration and hotel tax, with revocation possible after three violations. It let lawfully established uses continue, without saying whether existing rentals qualify, and left the effective date blank.
The version the city links now, dated Oct. 23, says only "RESERVED" where that section stood. Planning director Adleasia Smith-Cameron told WFXG at the Oct. 21 hearing "that section of the code is not complete."
"There is no expectation that we're going to eliminate the 14-day rental rule in Augusta," John Manton, the city attorney, said at that hearing.
That rule, a provision of the federal tax code, keeps rent out of income when a home used as a residence is rented for less than 15 days. It says nothing about zoning, and the local language officials describe has no published text yet.
Where the income sits
Two houses near the course show the split. Both sit in one-family residential zoning on the city's map, and both ranked in the top tenth for Masters-week gross among homes that close, so neither is typical.
A four-bedroom about a mile from the course had seven booked nights in the past year, all in Masters week, about $14,000 at asking prices. A three-bedroom less than a mile from the course booked about the same for the week, then 149 other nights at about $340 a night. That came to about $65,000 for the year, so the week was about a fifth of it.
Across Augusta-Richmond County, where the rewrite would apply, the seven nights of Masters week produced 19% of the year's Airbnb income at asking prices. April produced 30%, and about 27% of homes with income booked at least half of their year's income in April. Hotels lean on the month too: a 2022 story in Augusta University's Jagwire put Richmond County's April hotel-motel tax at $1.4 million, three times an average month.
Homes booking 14 nights or fewer hold about a fifth of Masters-week income, leaving about four-fifths to homes past that line, and about 6% of the year's.
Those homes' calendars ask about $700 in ordinary weeks, against about $220 across the county.
Mayor Garnett Johnson, speaking personally, told WJBF in a report published Nov. 3: "I think it's unfair to buy a house in a single family neighborhood where you have a hotel operating next door to them where it is constantly changing."
"No, not at all if you're renting your primary residence for Masters, it has no impact on you at all," Commissioner Tina Slendak told WJBF on Oct. 21, narrower than the federal rule, which covers any dwelling used as a residence.
"Some folks depend upon paying their mortgage off of their rental for Masters. But then you have corporate entities that are coming in also with an entirely different intent," Commissioner Don Clark told WRDW, in a story updated Oct. 21.
Jaime Powell, a real estate agent and Richmond County rental owner, said at the hearing that "most of us own properties and our properties are located in residential neighborhoods." Where rentals may operate has been the fight elsewhere too, including over Maui's Bill 9.
At the hearing, Rose Evans, a broker who manages short-term rentals, testified that many guests have family members at the burn center. A Montclair resident testified to finding eight Airbnbs in her neighborhood that morning.
Paul Wheeler, a Richmond County homeowner who rents during Masters week and has backed limits on large corporations, doubts the premise. "What is the problem we're trying to solve here?" Wheeler said in an Oct. 26 Zoom meeting, WRDW reported.
"All of this tax income going to Columbia County or North Augusta — people are still going to come here, they just [won't] stay in Richmond County," Wheeler said in the same meeting, WRDW reported a day later.
Jack Long, an Augusta attorney, told the commission at the hearing, of the Oct. 14 text: "It treats an individual who moves out and goes to the beach for the week and rents their house... in the same way it would treat a large corporation who was an institutional investor."
What the week pays
The view now widens from the county to homes within 20 miles of Augusta National, across county and state lines. Among homes within 2 miles that booked, three-bedrooms grossed roughly $5,500 to $6,500 in the 2026 week at asking prices before fees, and homes with four or more bedrooms roughly $6,000 to $8,000.
Homes that close averaged nearly nine times what they averaged in the four ordinary spring weeks around the tournament, about $5,300 against about $600, with homes that had no booked night included. The highest week anywhere in the area came to about $25,000. Agency and private deals run on other books.
Nightly prices were highest nearest the course and lowest at the far edge, and in every ring the asks left unsold sat above the nights booked, though those are different homes.
| Distance | Booked share of open nights | Booked nightly | Unsold asking nightly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Within 2 miles | 67% | $1,050 | $1,250 |
| 2-5 miles | 66% | $650 | $800 |
| 5-10 miles | 60% | $750 | $900 |
| 10-20 miles | 71% | $450 | $650 |
| All | 66% | $700 | $850 |
Homes with four or more bedrooms grossed well above two-bedrooms at every distance.
Major Sports Augusta, a rental agency, quotes $3,000 to over $25,000 for the week, a range that contains these figures. Realtor.com's $10,000 to $15,000 for a modest three-bedroom within walking distance, from April 2025, runs higher.
"I do wonder what the populace is going to say when they discover that leaving for the week during Masters, they can no longer make their $15,000," John Moreno, a property manager, testified at the hearing. The two houses, at about $14,000 each, come close to that.
Business Insider said in April that similar homes are listed for next year at nearly $120,000 for a week on platforms like Vrbo and Airbnb, in a story on Evans host Ashley Jernigan, who rents through Patron Properties under a contract that bars sharing the rent. No Airbnb week in the area booked anywhere near that. Evans lies in Columbia County, outside the rewrite.
Distance tracks the price more than the sale
Booked share stays within about 11 points across distance, and the farthest ring, which takes in Aiken, Grovetown and outer Evans, had the highest share. Homes priced well above similar homes booked fewer nights and grossed more. The priciest group, asking over 175% of the median for their size and distance, had 57% of open nights booked and averaged about $7,400, against 74% and about $1,800 for the cheapest. They are different homes, so this shows association only.
The same calendars show next year forming. As of Oct. 31, the median ask for next year's Masters week was about triple the four ordinary weeks around it, and 40% of open nights were booked, against 6% in those weeks. The priciest group stood at 17%.
Half of the 2026 week's booked nights were reserved at least 91 days out; in the four ordinary weeks around it, half came within about four weeks.
More owners, a third of nights unbooked
"Everybody I talked to was talking about renting their house this year, and last year, most everybody was talking about not renting their house. So it seems that it's more saturated," Julia Quick, an Augusta homeowner preparing a Masters rental, told WRDW on March 25.
"A lot of people are still not rented, so they're starting to reach out to other agencies and list with those as well," Stacey Greenway, a vice president at Tournament Housing & Events, told the station that day. "I definitely think that with Helene remodeling everything, it gave a lot of homeowners the opportunity to get into the rental market."
In the 2026 Masters week, about a third of open nights across the area went unbooked and about one in five homes booked no Masters-week night. Open listings in the map area around Augusta National and west Augusta rose about 23% in the year through October, about twice the typical U.S. area. These figures don't show that one caused the other.
"It'll be great for people coming into town because that's going to drive the price down," Quick said.
Two houses, one December hearing
The December hearing has no posted agenda, and the commission's recommendation goes to the Augusta Commission, which has no vote date.
The four-bedroom still had none of next April's seven Masters-week nights booked as of Oct. 31, at asks of about $1,900 to $2,400 a night. The three-bedroom had all seven booked. Whether it can keep hosting guests the other weeks, the 149 nights of the past year, is what the section marked "RESERVED" has yet to say.
About the data: Entire homes with minimum stays under 28 nights. Dollars are nightly asking prices on nights marked booked, before fees. Zoning comes from Augusta's public map; map locations are approximate, so shares were tested with shifted locations.
Frequently Asked Questions
No published text settles it. The Oct. 14 draft limited short-term rentals to six districts, none residential, with no Masters exemption, and the Oct. 23 version marks the section "RESERVED." Officials say they plan to add language exempting rentals of 14 days or less, and staff say a final draft will return in December, when the Planning Commission plans another public hearing; no agenda is posted.
It is a federal income-tax provision, Section 280A(g) of the tax code. When a dwelling is used as a residence and rented for less than 15 days in a tax year, the rent stays out of gross income and no rental deductions are allowed. It does not address zoning, permits or local lodging tax.
Half of the 2026 week's booked nights were reserved at least 91 days ahead. For the 2027 tournament, which runs Apr. 8-11, about 40% of open Masters-week nights around the course were booked by Oct. 31, 2026.
Owners use both routes. The chamber-run Masters Housing Bureau describes itself as the only rental organization sanctioned by Augusta National, says homeowners set the price and requires daily maid service for homes with four or more bedrooms. WRDW reports that a Richmond County Airbnb booking showed the 8% lodging tax.
