This 10-bedroom Civil War-era mansion in Manchester-by-the-Sea, available through Atlantic Vacation Homes in Gloucester, is still open for $5,000 a week during the month of August.

Think it’s too late in the season to book a vacation rental? Think again. According to real estate professionals from Cape Cod to Gloucester to the Berkshires, there are still plenty of vacation properties ready to be rented.

Even at the popular destinations of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, attractive vacation properties – usually rented out by now – are still available during the peak months of July and August.

South Shore Realtors say the slowing economy is partly to blame for fewer rentals and more cancellations.

While the supply of available rentals is up on the Cape, the demand is not as frenzied as it has been in previous years when most – if not all – properties were booked for most of the summer months by February.

“We’ve got owners begging us to get their properties booked,” said Dee Sullivan, rental manager for The Real Estate Co. in East Orleans.

And on Nantucket – where vacation rentals are usually hard to come by this time of year – business is also noticeably slower.

“We have a lot of beautiful properties that are normally fully booked by right now,” said Cindy Lenhart, principal broker of Compass Rose Real Estate in Nantucket.

However, Realtors north of Boston and in the Berkshires say the opposite. They have plenty of homes for rent, but they also have solid demand and have not noticed much decline in business.

“This has been a very good season. Our business is up,” said Carole Lynn Sharoff, owner of Atlantic Vacation Homes in Gloucester.

Sharoff noted that she has twice as many houses to rent as last year and says her phones have not stopped ringing.

Even though she has heard rumblings about a decline in bookings on the Cape, Sharoff maintains that her business has been virtually unaffected by a slowing economy.

“I just don’t see the economy is affecting us much here,” said Sharoff, whose agency handles rentals in such North Shore communities as Essex, Marblehead, Ipswich, Rockport, Gloucester, Beverly and Manchester-by-the-Sea.

Weekly rentals, particularly those that rent for up to $1,500 a week, are in demand, she said. Atlantic Vacation Homes has also received several requests for more upscale properties – like a 15-room mansion on 40 acres in Manchester-by-the-Sea that is going for $5,000 a week.

Sharoff said the increased business is a result of several factors. People are constantly rediscovering Gloucester and the North Shore and are attracted to the area because of its proximity to Boston.

Recent movies filmed in the area, including box-office hit “The Perfect Storm,” are also sparking more tourist interest.

Another reason rentals may be up, Sharoff said, is that vacationers may be more willing to rent a home as a cheaper alternative to flying to faraway destinations and paying big hotel bills.

While business may be down on the Cape, real estate professionals on the North Shore and in the Berkshires say they cater to a different market than Cape Cod does.

Pamela Roberts, owner of Roberts and Assoc. in Lenox, said Berkshires vacationers tend to be older, retired or semi-retired, and spend a month or longer in the area.

Roberts – who rents everything from traditional three- and four-bedroom Colonials to properties along the lake to contemporary homes and condominiums – said the area draws many visitors from New York, New Jersey and Florida. Most can afford longer getaways despite a dip in the stock market.

“We haven’t seen a decline in the demand for rentals,” said Roberts, whose office handles rentals in Lenox and the surrounding communities of Stockbridge, West Stockbridge, Richmond, Lee and Tyringham.

Since many people in the area realize that vacation rentals can be a big income generator, her office has a bigger supply of homes every year, Roberts said.

On the South Shore and Cape, real estate professionals say they are seeing more cancellations because people have lost their jobs.

“We’ve had three major cancellations because the husbands lost jobs,” said Jan McDonough of Harwich Realty in Harwich Port.

McDonough also believes that the weather plays a part in people’s vacation choices.

“We had three weeks of terrible weather last year, and that may have discouraged some people [from returning],” she said.

Trimming Down
While McDonough acknowledges that business has been down a little, she said she still gets calls on a daily basis.

Right now, Harwich Realty is dealing with eight to 10 rentals a week. In January and February, the agency was doing that much business in a day.

McDonough said prime waterfront properties were booked in the winter, but Harwich Realty still has vacant homes near the water with weekly rents of $1,600 and up.

However, she cautions that her listings change quickly and vacant homes fill up as the season progresses.

“Just because we have vacancies now doesn’t mean that we’ll have vacancies by July 1,” she said.

On Martha’s Vineyard, David Cron, a partner of Island Real Estate, said the turning economy has slowed business. Cron said Island Real Estate, which handles about 350 to 400 rentals each summer, can find an open place for almost any week in the summer.

Compass Rose’s Lenhart said “people are trimming down” on their Nantucket vacations, either cutting their stays from two weeks to a week or not coming to the island at all.

Lenhart said the stock market woes play into the greater number of cancellations. But she said there are other reasons as well.

Some of the previous renters have bought vacation homes on the island and some of the higher-end customers are skipping Nantucket for a vacation in Europe because it is “such a good deal,” said Lenhart. Or they’re finding other less-expensive travel alternatives.

“Those are the kinds of things we’re competing with,” she said.

A customer calling last week to inquire about available homes in Nantucket during the July 4th week got a list of eight homes that were still open – very unusual for one of the summer’s most popular getaway weeks.

Lenhart said over the last three years that wouldn’t have been the case.

“The demand for rentals exceeded the supply in the last few years,” she said.

But Lenhart doesn’t think the island’s seasonal rental market is by any means doomed. If anything, she believes the slower business may convince homeowners to lower rents, encouraging more people to rent.

“We’ll always have a huge draw because it [the island] is well-protected,” said Lenhart, noting that almost half the island is in conservation.

“The beaches are still very pristine and beautiful and accessible,” she said. “The historical look of the island has been preserved by the Historic District Commission. I feel the island is so well-protected that we will always be a wonderful and desirable place to go to.”