A surge in short-term accommodation such as Airbnbs has left some West Australian towns and suburbs without a rental in sight.
New figures have revealed the extent of WA’s “Airbnb market” as the state’s housing emergency deepens.
Casey Sawbridge lives and works in Victoria Park. The 27-year-old and her boyfriend are roommates, under her parents’ roof.
It’s a living situation neither generation wished for.
“Kids are trying to support themselves like I am, even to call myself a kid is crazy because I’m still living at home, but that’s how it feels,” she said.
Sawbridge said she had been searching for years, but affordable rentals in the suburbs she wanted to live in were out of reach.
“I may be earning a good wage but everything else is more expensive and unaffordable so there’s just no way to get ahead,” she said.
A new Shelter WA report reveals a hidden market of homes out of reach for renters.
Across the state, there are three holiday listings for every home up for rent.
The number of Airbnbs and Stayz are up by 10 per cent in two years to more than 10,400 listings, compared to just 3700 long-term rentals.
Shelter WA chief executive Kath Snell said the figures represented a “tiny number” of properties for people who wanted to live long-term, but an “enormous amount of choice” for tourists or visitors to the state.
The report also reveals the local government areas with the highest concentration of short-term stays.
Mundaring has 31 short-term rentals to no private rentals; Bassendean, 11 to none; Serpentine-Jarrahdale has 29 short-term rentals to one private rental; Fremantle has 291 to 13; and Scarborough 272 to 33.
In WA’s regions, long-term rentals are outnumbered even more, with Gingin recording 201 short stays to no long-term rentals, and Dandaragan – including Jurien Bay – 106 to none.
“Over 50 per cent of short term rentals are actually two and one-bedroom homes and many of them are in residential suburban areas, so that’s really taking stock out of the long-term rental market,” Snell said.
“We are in a housing and particularly a rental emergency … we’re not in a tourism emergency.”
Kath Snell
Two years have passed since WA government reforms aimed to tame the tide of Airbnb-style short-term rentals, including a register and financial incentives to turn holiday homes into long-term rentals.
Since the changes were introduced, Shelter WA says more than 800 properties have returned to the rental market.
But any gains appear to be quickly offset, with more than 900 new short-stay listings coming online over the same period.
Shelter WA is now calling for a cap on new short-stays in areas with low vacancy rates.
“We are in a housing and particularly a rental emergency,” Snell said.
“We’re not in a tourism emergency.”
Airbnb says caps are not the solution, while Stayz told 9News Perth many short-term stays would never be suitable as long-term homes.
