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Report Digital transformations Private rental Housing markets

Technological disruption in private housing markets: the case of Airbnb

Final Report No. 305

Date Published: 08 Nov 2018

Authors: Laura Crommelin Laurence Troy Chris Martin Sharon Parkinson

This research looks at how short-term letting (STL) platforms like Airbnb, HomeAway and Booking.com are reshaping housing opportunity in private markets.

While Airbnb is not the only STL platform operating, it is one of the largest. The research analysed Airbnb listing data from Sydney and Melbourne to provide insights into the extent to which STL is contributing to housing affordability issues and to highlight the most effective responses available to regulators.

This research suggests that STL platforms are probably not significantly worsening rental affordability across Australia’s major cities as a whole, but are having an impact on rental properties in high-demand inner city areas with significant tourism appeal. In these areas, two main factors— decreasing bond lodgement rates and increasing levels of property vacancy— point to the likelihood that STL is removing properties from the long term rental (LTR) market, thereby contributing to increasing unaffordability in the private rental sector.

A review of 11 cities indicates that there are three broad approaches to regulating STL internationally: a permissive approach—where STL is mostly allowed without prior permission or notification; a notificatory approach—where STL is mostly allowed, provided the host first notifies an authority (i.e. there is no specific decision by the authority); and a restrictive approach—where STL is mostly banned, or allowed only where an authority gives specific permission. The report recommends that Melbourne and Sydney take a notificatory approach. Giving hosts an identification number allows local and state governments to check compliance with limits on days let and restrictions on listing multiple properties.

DOI: 10.18408/ahuri-7115201

Published by: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited

ISSN: 1834-7223

ISBN: 978-1-925334-70-8

 

Citation: Crommelin, L., Troy, L., Martin, C., and Parkinson, S. (2018) Technological disruption in private housing markets: the case of Airbnb, AHURI Final Report No. 305, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited, Melbourne, https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/305, doi:10.18408/ahuri-7115201.

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