Australia’s short-term rental market is shifting further away from its original sharing economy model, with entire homes now outnumbering hosted stays on platforms such as Airbnb, according to new research from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).
The study shows the sector has become increasingly professionalised over the past four years, with a sharp decline in casual, single-property hosts and a rise in operators managing large portfolios of short-term rental accommodation (STRA).
Analysis of web-scraped Airbnb data from 2019 to 2023 found the number of “hosted STRA” listings, where guests stay with the owner or in the owner’s home while they are away, fell by 23,544 to a total of 50,166.
Over the same period, “non-hosted STRA” listings, defined as entire properties listed for at least 90 days a year, rose 15% to 69,527.
That increase represents an additional 8,822 potential homes being redirected from the long-term rental market into short-stay accommodation.
“There are now more listings for entire homes than there are for hosted rentals, which is a shift away from the original premise of platforms like Airbnb for property owners to host visitors in spare rooms,” Monash University research fellow and study lead Dr Michaela Lang said.
Dr Lang said the findings came as Australia’s housing crisis intensified pressure on governments to address the impact of short-term rentals on housing supply and affordability.
“Short-stay rentals are shown to contribute to rising housing costs in areas with a high density of this type of accommodation, and policymakers need to understand the sector’s evolving dynamics to address this,” she said.
The research also highlights a clear change in who is operating short-term rentals. The number of STRA operators with just one listing fell 25% over four years to 55,333, while those with 11 or more listings grew 27% to 885.
“This indicates a rise in professional property managers listing on behalf of owners and may also suggest that owners hold larger portfolios. Both trends reflect greater professionalisation,” Dr Lang said.
Geographically, growth in non-hosted short-term rentals has been strongest in regional tourist towns, where housing supply is typically more constrained.
Capital cities, by contrast, recorded slower growth in entire-home listings or, in some cases, a decline.
Dr Lang said this pattern appeared to be a flow-on effect from COVID-19 lockdowns, which reduced demand for short-stay accommodation in major cities and prompted a shift towards regional locations.
Despite the scale of the sector, the research found Australia’s STRA market remains lightly regulated by international standards, with a fragmented approach across states and territories.
“Among current regulations, three of the states and territories have levies on short-term rentals, and two have registration requirements.
Nightly caps apply only in certain areas of New South Wales (NSW) and only Tasmania requires platforms to share data,” Dr Lang said.
The study suggests levies introduced in NSW, Victoria and the ACT may lead some landlords to exit short-term rental markets, while others are likely to pass the additional costs on to guests.
Interviews with local government stakeholders, alongside previous research, also point to poor compliance where regulations do exist.
“Research we canvassed suggested more than 20% of non-hosted short-term rentals in Sydney and Byron Shire have exceeded regulations capping the nights they could be booked annually,” Dr Lang said.
From the perspective of landlords, the research found short-term rentals are widely viewed as more labour-intensive than long-term leasing but also more profitable.
Maximising returns was often cited as the primary motivation for entering the STRA market, although some owners also valued the social aspects of hosting.
The report calls for clearer and more consistent policy settings, including a national definition of short-term rental accommodation, mandatory registration of listings and improved data collection.
It recommends that reliable data be made accessible to local governments to support enforcement and compliance.
“Accurate data is key to effective policy, which could be achieved by mandatory registration and proactive compliance checks,” Dr Lang said.
*The research was undertaken for AHURI by researchers from Monash University and The University of Adelaide.
