We can reduce the rent in Brisbane, but not by banning Airbnb

How do you solve Brisbane’s rental crisis? Don’t ban Airbnb, build more homes.

Brisbane unit rents are rising five times as fast as wages, and fewer people living in each home is not helping, while the Queensland Council of Social Service told a Senate inquiry into the “worsening rental crisis in Australia” homelessness had risen 22 per cent in four years.

Airbnb is not responsible for Brisbane’s rental crisis, according to researchers.Credit: Ryan Stuart

One person working in the sector said people were now considered “lucky” if they secured a tent or caravan.

While some have called for rent caps, others pointed a finger at short-term rental accommodation such as Airbnb and Stayz.

But University of Queensland researchers commissioned by the state government to assess the impact of short-term rentals on housing affordability and availability found in a paper released this month that Airbnb was not the issue.

They found the proportion of homes used for short-term rentals was less than 1 per cent in Brisbane, compared with more than 12 per cent in the north Queensland tourist hotspot of Douglas Shire, north of Cairns.

There were 19,773 active short-term rentals across Queensland.

There was also no clear pattern of an increase in the percentage of dwellings used for short-term rentals from 2018 to 2023, except in Noosa, where they increased from 3 to 6 per cent.

Holiday towns had more short-term rentals, sometimes due to a shortage of hotels, while they were also used in some areas by seasonal labourers or people accessing hospitals.

But modelling found short-term rentals, which ranged from entire homes, beachside stays, a spare room and farm getaways, were “not a significant determinant of rental affordability statewide”.

There was no clear alignment between suburbs where rents increased the most and the percentage of short-term rentals.

“There is however significant support for the claim that decreasing stocks of rental properties [for reasons other than short-term rentals] combined with strong demand for rental accommodation resulting from shifts in intra- and interstate migration patterns following the COVID-19 pandemic are the primary drivers of the disruption in the rental market,” the researchers wrote.

They said there was “no doubt” the key issue driving rental market disruption in Queensland was a limited supply of homes despite strong demand.

“It appears that where rental stock has been removed from the market, it is much more likely that a home has been purchased by an owner-occupier than to be used for [short-term accommodation],” they wrote.

They said a 10 per cent increase in total dwellings could cause rent prices to drop by 1 to 2 per cent.

Researchers argued there was no evidence to support statewide restrictions, and called for a register, which will be considered by the state government.

Brisbane City Council announced a 12-month Short-Stay Accommodation Taskforce to develop a better way to regulate the sector in June, while increasing the rates surcharge, already paid by more than 750 owners, from 50 to 65 per cent.

In Brisbane, the top suburbs where owners were paying the higher short-stay rates were Brisbane City (112 properties), New Farm (49), South Brisbane (41), Teneriffe (41) and Fortitude Valley (34).

National cabinet in Brisbane this month agreed to boost housing supply between 2024 and 2029, with the $3 billion New Home Bonus giving states and territories $15,000 for every dwelling built above an earlier 1 million target, with the aim of adding 200,000, which could reduce rents by 4 per cent.