Nightly caps and voluntary levies: City of Sydney ramps up pressure on short-term rentals
A 30-day cap on Airbnb-style accommodation is among possible measures being weighed by councillors after plans for an outright ban were rubbished.
Airbnb said in a submission to the City of Sydney’s Housing for All discussion paper that short-term rentals represented a “tiny fraction of the housing market” and were not the cause of the shortage.
“The vast majority of listed properties are primary residences and homes used periodically by their owners, making them unsuitable for the long-term rental market,” the submission said. Airbnb was contacted for comment.
Housing experts are divided on the role played by short-term rentals in housing affordability woes.
Nicole Gurran, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Sydney, said regulating non-hosted short-term rentals was “a no-brainer in the current [housing] situation”.
“The problem is the councils found the state government makes it difficult to do that. You need to change your planning controls … it took many years and a lot of money for Byron Shire to get [the 60-day cap] in place,” Gurran said.
