Ann Wason Moore calls for a solution for rental supply problem which she says holiday leasing is causing

Crackdowns on holiday rentals are triggering plummeting property prices overseas. Is it time the Gold Coast follows suit? Vote in our poll

It’s a short-term strategy that’s creating a long-term crisis,

While political and property pundits keep trying to spin the positives, holiday rental platforms like Airbnb are turning into an even bigger problem than predicted.

Here on the Gold Coast, we continue to focus on the effect that short-term letting has on our rental market, but we’re missing a more permanent property problem.

That’s not to dismiss the tenancy issue … despite a state government-commissioned report that found accommodation sites like Airbnb were not to blame for our rental crisis.

It was a strange conclusion given that the same University Of Queensland study stated a lack of housing stock was to blame … a rental supply problem which holiday leasing helped create.

Incredibly, now-Premier Steven Miles said upon the report’s release: “The review found no clear alignment between the suburbs with the highest rent increases and the percentage of dwellings devoted to short-term rental.”

Which is absolutely contradictory to research conducted around the world.

Qld Premier Steven Miles Premier Steven Miles. Thursday July 4, 2024. Picture, John Gass

A landmark study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that Airbnb was responsible for nearly one-fifth of all the residential rent increases in the United States between 2012 and 2016. Further, it found that a one per cent increase in Airbnb listings lead directly to a 0.018 per cent increase in rent – which may seem small, but it quickly adds up.

That’s enough to convince me that we need to keep short-term rentals on a much shorter leash.

But as we continue to argue about the effects or otherwise of Airbnb on our rental market, has anyone considered the effect it’s having on the purchase price of property?

Well, once again, overseas studies certainly have.

Ann Wason Moore on Gold Coasters subletting their rentals on short-term rental sites

That same US study showed a one per cent increase in Airbnb listings leads to a 0.026 per cent increase in house prices, while a Los-Angeles specific study from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam found that holiday letting was responsible for a more than 30 per cent increase in housing prices in the suburb of Venice Beach alone.

Conversely, a decrease in Airbnb listings is currently causing property prices to plummet in the California tourist town of Palm Springs.

Their city council recently adopted an ordinance that capped the number of rental certificates in any neighbourhood to 20 per cent of its homes.

A scenic road in Palm Springs, California. Photo: Istock

A sign reading '' Ban Them Now! Vacation Rental Houses Destroy Residential Neighborhoods'' is displayed in front of a home on June 28, 2024 in Hollywood, Florida. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have given the state more control over the regulation of short-term vacation rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Local station KTLA reported that 10 Palm Springs neighbourhoods were now over the limit, with owners on a waiting list for a rental license that could take years.

“Homeowners with licenses who sell their properties can’t pass them down to buyers,” the station reported.

“For the many Palm Springs buyers who snapped up properties to list them on Airbnb, owning one they can’t rent out has negated their plan. And the new ordinance is killing home values, real estate agents say.

“Michael Slate, a local agent with Equity Union, said most agents don’t even bother hosting open houses for listings in capped neighbourhoods.

“Slate has one client who paid $1.1 million for a home and poured $300,000 into renovations before the cap kicked in. Now, she’s not sure if she could get $1 million.”

It’s really no surprise that there’s such demand to be a short-let landlord. After all, a holiday rental is an almost guaranteed money-maker, which is why data shows that about one-quarter of the hosts on the Airbnb platform own nearly two-thirds of the listings.

Now, just imagine if we could reduce their numbers and engineer that same Palm Springs-style price drop on the Gold Coast?

Despite our own city adopting policies to curb short-stay accommodation in suburbs outside the Broadbeach to Surfers strip, there is little in the way of actual enforcement, meaning this holiday black-market continues to boom – along with prices.

This is a city built on tourism, and of course we want to offer the best options … but this is also a city where we want to be able to afford to live and work.

It’s time to enforce this short-term rental policy and help evict this housing crisis before it stays forever.

Broadbeach skyline. Gold Coast stock shots 2023, Gold Coast, Sunday, June 18, 2023. Photo: Regi Varghese

Originally published as Ann Wason Moore calls for a solution for rental supply problem which she says holiday leasing is causing