Investors are pivoting to the short-stay market
Struggling renters are paying the ultimate price as the lure of fast cash and flexible rules drives Brisbane landlords into the short-stay market.
Real estate figures reveal investors are doubling their monthly returns by putting their properties on platforms like Airbnb, allowing them to sidestep strict tenancy laws and “risky” long-term leases.
The pivot has sparked a fierce backlash from housing advocates, who warn entire suburbs are being swallowed by short-stay rentals while the state government sits on a secret report into the industry.
909/8 Dickens Street, Spring Hill brings in $325 a night on the the short-stay market
The exodus follows a controversial raft of state government rental reforms that stripped landlords of the right to kick out tenants without a prescribed reason and slapped strict new limits on rent increases.
Brisbane buyer’s agent and short-stay host Lauren Jones said entry-level investors facing $40,000 in out-of-pocket holding costs were turning to the sector to beat the federal government’s looming axe on negative gearing.
“If they can increase their rental yield by doing short-term, that might be an extra $20,000 in their pocket, which almost combats the whole loss of negative gearing,” she said.
Buyer’s agent and short-stay host Lauren Jones
Ms Jones made the lucrative switch herself in February.
“Long-term market, I’d get about $3000 a month,” she said.
“Right now I’m probably getting, after all the Airbnb management fees, about $6000-$7000 … so double.”
A two-bedroom city apartment currently listed for over $960,000 advertises a short-term appraisal of $300-$325 a night, compared to its $950-$1,000 weekly permanent rental return.
Airbnb pointed to survey data showing 80 per cent of its hosts list a single home, with the majority using the income to combat the rising cost of living.
As Queensland grapples with a critical one per cent rental vacancy rate, a new report by Inside Airbnb has laid bare the staggering density of the shadow hotel industry.
Brisbane City had almost two whole-home Airbnb listings for every 10 homes recorded as rented in the suburb
While the scraped data cannot definitively track how many properties were directly pulled from the permanent rental pool, Brisbane City recorded the worst concentration, with 748 entire homes operating as short-term stays.
For every 10 homes recorded as rented in the CBD during the 2021 Census, there are now nearly two whole-home Airbnb listings operating today. South Brisbane followed with 456 active listings, ahead of Fortitude Valley at 361.
Suburbs rounding out the city’s top 10 were: Macgregor, Manly, Robertson, Spring Hill, Sunnybank, Teneriffe and Auchenflower.
National housing campaign Everybody’s Home slammed the financial incentives driving the shift.
Maiy Azize of Everybody’s Home: Renters displaced
Spokesperson Maiy Azize said short-term rentals were both a “symptom and a cause of the housing crisis”, warning failure to regulate the sector was displacing desperate Brisbane renters.
“With renters struggling to find affordable homes, we should be doing more to stop housing being diverted into short stays, not less,” Ms Azize said.
“Ultimately, homes should be for people to live in, not just another way for investors to make money.”
It follows Brisbane City Council’s recent decision to scrap a planned permit crackdown that would have hit rogue holiday hosts with $140,000 fines.
The owner of 117 Melton Rd, Nundah rented each of the downstairs bedrooms on the short-stay market
Defending the light-touch approach, civic cabinet chair Sarah Hutton said the properties served vulnerable locals and the council received only about 100 related complaints a year.
“Consultation on the proposed permit scheme showed some short-term rentals also serve broader needs, such as housing domestic violence survivors, insurance claimants and hospital patients,” Ms Hutton said.
Short Term Accommodation Association Australia (STAAA) executive director Keiran Craig-Jones said the state government was keeping the sector in the dark, with a second independent University of Queensland report into a proposed registration scheme sitting unreleased since October 2024.
Tourism minister Andrew Powell confirmed the report was commissioned by the former government and provided to them ahead of the election.
“They chose not to release it publicly,” a spokesperson said.
“It doesn’t take a secret report to know the former Labor Government’s legacy is the housing crisis.”
Short Term Accommodation Association Australia executive director Keiran Craig-Jones
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The real estate industry pushed back on the activist data, pointing to UQ’s earlier 2023 report estimating active short-stays made up just 0.4 per cent of Brisbane’s total housing stock.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) CEO Antonia Mercorella acknowledged returns could be higher in strong-demand areas, but said the shift was largely driven by landlords seeking “more direct control over their asset following rental law changes”.
She said it was rarely a “straight swap” from the permanent rental market, noting short-stay owners already face higher management fees and a 65 per cent council rates surcharge.
“The bigger concern for us is that rising interest rates and tax uncertainty put pressure on all investors,” Ms Mercorella said.
“We should be doing everything we can to encourage investment in housing – both long and short term – rather than pushing investors out of the market altogether.”
This renovated post-war home at 34 Paget St, Carina was renting at up to $300 a night
Ms Craig-Jones agreed, adding landlords increasingly viewed traditional tenants as a liability.
“We are seeing more and more restrictions being introduced onto long-term rental owners … and the owners believe it is simply far too risky for them to transition their property onto the long-term rental market,” she said.
“Some of our members have previously had negative experiences with long-term tenants causing damage to their properties and failing to pay rent, and this is certainly deterring owners.”
With Brisbane facing a projected shortfall of 7,400 hotel rooms ahead of the 2032 Olympics, the industry warned aggressively restricting the sector would cripple the city’s visitor economy, arguing it was “neither practical nor economically sensible” to rely exclusively on building permanent hotels for a temporary Games surge.
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