How an explosion of Airbnb’s in Launceston and Hobart is impacting state’s housing crisis

The surge in short-stay platforms in two Tasmanian cities is driving up rents and forcing people to live further away from their employment, one expert says. Here’s why.

Short-stay platforms like Airbnb and Stayz are removing options people who want to live in them full-time — and affecting future housing supply.

Swathes of rental properties are being taken away from residents as the number of short-term rentals in Launceston has ballooned by 60 per cent over two years.

According to the state government’s latest figures from the Short Stay Accommodation Act data collection, short-stay platforms like Airbnb and Stayz are removing dwellings from local renters — and affecting future housing supply.

The report found a 41 per cent increase in short-term rentals in Hobart over the same period.

Tenants’ Union of Tasmania principal solicitor Ben Bartl said it was clear that the increasing numbers of short-term rental properties in Hobart and Launceston disproportionately impacted the availability of homes for local people needing to rent.

“The loss of long-term rental properties to short-stay accommodation is a travesty,” Mr Bartl said.

“With cost of living pressures continuing to bite, why is our state government continuing to allow the continued loss of long-term rental stock?

“The loss of supply is driving rents up and forcing people further away from their places of employment and their local communities.”

Principal Solicitor Tenants Union Ben Bartl at Hobart. Picture: Chris Kidd

Mr Bartl said with bigger profits, more owners were switching long-term rentals to the short-term market.

“The loss of 140 entire homes in just two years from the inner-city of Launceston is alarming and highlights that the government’s light-touch regulation is not working,” he said.

“We want the government to ban investment properties being used as short-stay accommodation.

“The sharing economy should be just that, a sharing of your principal place of residence.”

City of Launceston Mayor Matthew Garwood said the council had undertaken “a lot of work” in recent years to understand the impact of short-term rentals on the municipality.

Launceston Mayor Matthew Garwood. Picture: Stephanie Dalton

“This includes the publication last year of the Council’s ‘Review of the Impacts of short Stay Accommodation on the Rental Market in the City of Launceston’, and work currently underway to develop a holistic Housing Strategy for the municipality,” he said.

“While the number of short stay permit approvals has increased, the total still represents only 2 per cent of the available residential market of 31,274 properties in the municipality.

“Importantly, data which is not currently captured is the percentage of short stay accommodation approved properties which revert to other residential uses over time; only permit approvals are recorded.

“The City of Launceston last year voted to explore a differential rates model for short stay accommodation in the Launceston municipality, to request the state government provide more transparent data on short stay accommodation and its impacts on the long-term rental market, and to request the Local Government Association of Tasmania to explore the implementation of a vacant residential land tax for unoccupied homes.

“This work is ongoing. In my view, other more significant reforms which are proposed from time to time would require a statewide approach.”

Originally published as How an explosion of Airbnb’s in Launceston and Hobart is impacting state’s housing crisis