The Cape Cod summer season is heating up, with rental property prices seeing the largest year-over-year increases in nearly 20 years, according to a company that matches vacationers with homeowners.
Summer bookings are up 5.1 percent from last year amid a 3.3 percent price hike, according to stats from WeNeedaVacation.com, a Brewster company whose website lists more than 3,500 properties on the Cape, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket each year.
"Naturally, there was concern early on that the homeowner confidence driving the higher pricing might have been misplaced," said the company's Elizabeth Weedon. "But, so far at least, that does not seem to be the case."
Year-over-year price increases have averaged 2.2 percent for Cape summer rentals since the economic downtown started in 2008. Prices have jumped a cumulative 14.2 percent since then, from an average of $2,397 to $2,737.
"Homeowners have been forced to be patient and use restraint in raising their prices during the difficult economic times from which we seem to finally be emerging," Weedon said. "It's no secret to them that the economy has improved, and they are seizing the opportunity to recoup some of the maintenance expenses they've been incurring throughout the past few difficult years."
The optimism follows a strong 2013 — the best in a decade — according to Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Wendy Northcross, who expects a robust season based on members' advanced bookings and Web traffic.
"The table has been set, but the weather has to come through," she said.
Reservations for Memorial Day through Columbus Day are "very, very strong" at the Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club in Brewster, which has 340 guest rooms and villas. "We're up about 8.5 percent in transient bookings over last year at this time, and last year was a record year," said Robert Newman, general manager.
Ocean Edge employs 550 and takes a global approach to filling positions, relying on temporary foreign workers on H-2B and J-1 visas for about 30 percent of its staff due to a dearth of local candidates.
"We try to be very proactive in our recruiting process, so this past winter, members of my management team traveled to Ireland, England, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Canada, Jamaica and Mexico to recruit," Newman said. "That travel started as early as last November and concluded in March."
Cape tourism also is expected to get a boost from JetBlue's new daily seasonal flights between Hyannis and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport that start June 26.
Bookings are healthy, JetBlue spokesman Anders Lindstrom said, and the service is expected to fare well.
"As with all new routes, though, it takes a while to get to the same level (as) routes that have been operating for a while," he said.
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