The two market leaders in short-term holiday rentals have accepted that guests should pay a levy to fund social and affordable housing in NSW, but want the tax applied to all tourism accommodation, including hotels.
Expedia backed a tax “of a sensible quantum and targeted towards the areas where the contribution has maximum positive impact … in recognition of the impact that the sector has on the provision of local and state government services”. It said this would help change “the way STRA is perceived”. Expedia maintained STRA was neither the cause of, nor the solution to, current housing pressures. However, Airbnb conceded there was “only a weak relationship” between the proportion of property used as short-term rentals and growth in real rents or the proportion of households in rental stress.
Services such as Airbnb were useful in regional coastal areas where spare rooms were rented in otherwise occupied households to generate additional income for owners, the Property Council submitted. Using data from international database Inside Airbnb, which analyses publicly available listings, Shelter NSW pointed to areas such as the Hunter Valley, Snowy River, Port Stephens and Ballina, where the number of whole homes listed on Airbnb had increased more than 50 per cent from November 2018 to November 2023.At the top of the list was the Eurobodalla region, along the NSW South Coast, where the figure rose from 569 homes to 1056 – a growth rate of 85 per cent.