Some locations were up to $127 cheaper per night this January, compared to the previous year, data provided to ACM by Airdna reveals.

Airdna analyses short-term rental data across booking platforms Airbnb and Stayz. It provided a point-in-time comparison for bookings made by December 20, 2023, for stays in January 2024 and compared it to the previous two years.

The total number of booked nights for January 2024 was up nine per cent in Mollymook compared to the previous year and up 13 per cent in Batemans Bay and Broulee.

There was slight rise in available holiday properties in most of these areas and an even more significant increase in the number of nights available to be booked.

Prices in some locations were heavily discounted from those paid last January.

The data showed people who booked by mid-December 2023 paid an average $506 per night to stay in Mollymook over January, compared to $570 the same time a year ago.

The cost of a holiday rental was also down in Broulee this year, where people were paying $485 per night compared to $566 last year.

Prices were up in Batemans Bay, however, where the average daily rate was $456 compared to $433 last year.

Despite lower prices in some areas, holidaymakers were still feeling the pinch, one local holiday rental operator said.

Joyce Asbury, principal at Fraser-Gray Real Estate, said families were taking shorter holidays this year thanks to cost-of-living pressures.

"A lot of people are feeling the pinch," she said.

"Families who have been coming here for years, where they would have two weeks' [holiday] they're probably only having one now."

Beach holidays were also once again competing with overseas trips and cruises post-COVID, Ms Asbury said.

"Some of the places, the dearer ones on Airbnb, they're $4000 a week. Families can go overseas or go on a cruise for that," she said.