In Vermont, short-term rental prices shoot to the top

Short-term rental prices in Vermont follow a specific pattern—they rise in the winter and drop in the summer.

Airbnb and Vrbo data show that almost all counties follow this trend. This is hardly surprising, considering most tourists like to visit Vermont when the leaves change color or when it's a winter wonderland.

However, something strange happened in early 2021. While the rest of the counties had a generally consistent price over the winter, Essex County showed a sharp rise in average daily price. Normally, this would be explained by a simple shortage of available rental units – the higher the demand, the higher the price. But according to the same data, this rise was not accompanied by a huge change in the number of rental units.

Short-term rentals in Essex are usually priced among the lowest of all counties. In February 2021, its average price surpassed that of all other counties, reaching $432 per night.

Analysis: Excel. I'm interested to examine this anomaly further and find out whether this sharp change was due to environmental factors, a change in housing or tourism policy, or something else entirely.
Source: Vermont housing data