The Fourth of July holiday is here, and managers of area vacation rentals say they are seeing some of the highest occupancy rates in nearly two years.

Tom Johnson, vacation rental property manager for Wilmington-based Intracoastal Realty, said Wednesday that all 225 of the firm’s vacation rental properties, which span the New Hanover County coastline, have been leased for the holiday. He said many of the occupants are repeat customers and visitors to the area.

“Many of our customers make their tentative reservations every fall,” Johnson said. “We have people that vacation with us year after year after year.”

Johnson said his division began seeing an increase in inquiries during the Memorial Day weekend in late May. He said as the school year wind downs, and the summer months begin to heat up, the momentum for vacation rentals soars – typically peaking in mid-July.

Jim Clark, president of Wilmington-based United Beach Vacations and Topsail Beach-based Sea Coast Rentals, said a number of visitors come from within North Carolina as well as travel from states such as Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

“Of our out-of-state guests, more than half are from Ohio,” Clark said.

Between Clark’s two firms, all 160 vacation rental properties are also sold out for the Fourth of July weekend. He added that next week was also looking good for his company.

“It’s staying pretty busy,” Clark said. “We’re sold out this week and much of next week, too.”

Johnson said the increase in vacation rentals might be a sign of the economic times. He said as families become more confident consumers because of the improving job market, they are moving forward with plans to vacation and travel.

“You see a lot more families vacation together, rent a bigger house and split the cost,” Johnson said.

Bob McKoy, president and owner of Wilmington-based Network Real Estate that manages a number of vacation rentals throughout Pleasure Island, said all of his vacation properties were occupied last weekend.

“This past weekend was considered the big Fourth weekend,” McKoy said. “This coming weekend was not as big as last weekend for us.”

He said a number of clients were trying to balance school start dates and work schedules and chose to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday early. But despite seeing vacation rental spike last week, McKoy said he still had a healthy number of properties being rented for this weekend.

“We have a heavy volume of clients coming in from all parts of the state,” he said. “So the interest is still there.”