Growth in short-stay rental accommodation

Short-stay rental accommodation (STRA) isn’t entirely new to Australia: this type of accommodation has existed for decades as ‘holiday lettings.’ However, digital platforms — primarily Airbnb — have reduced the barriers to entering the market for both providers and purchasers, leading to significant growth in this accommodation type, both in Australia and internationally.

STRA is accommodation rented out for three months or less, and generally delivered in dwellings, rather than in tourist or business travel accommodation such as hotel rooms.[1] Many different terms are used, but broadly, there are two main types of STRA:

1. ‘Primary residence,’ ‘hosted’ or ‘home-sharing’ — the provider lets out one or more rooms in their own home, with the provider either present (‘hosted’) or absent (‘home-sharing’) during the stay.
2. ‘Non-primary residence,’ ‘non-hosted’ or ‘whole home’ — the provider lets out an entire dwelling, and they live elsewhere and are not present during the stay. [2]

NB: STRA is sometimes also referred to as short term rentals (STRs).

Overall, STRA brings a range of benefits and disadvantages to neighbourhoods and regions. For example, while STRA can revitalise tourism in regional areas which have a shortage of tourist accommodation, it can also disrupt amenity and community connectedness for long-term residents whose neighbours are changing every few nights or weeks.

Our attention is focussed on the second category of STRA because non-primary residence short-stay accommodation is delivered in houses which could otherwise be made available to rent on the long-term rental market and thus provide a home. NB: A ‘primary residence’ STRA cannot readily be rented out without the provider first moving elsewhere.

In this topic, TasCOSS is examining the implications of STRA for housing, including rental vacancy rates and affordability, rather than benefits to tourism or impacts on neighbourhood amenity.

Rental prices have grown significantly in Australia in recent years, and the high prevalence of STRA has been posited as one of the factors driving this price growth.

[1] Lang, M et al. (2025), Insights into Short-Term Rental Accommodation: History, statistics and landlord perspectives, no. 451, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne.
[2] Burke, B et al. (2023), Short-Term Rental Accommodation: New directions, new debates, Final Report, New South Wales Planning Commission, April.

While “the extent of the impacts of STRs on private housing markets is fiercely contested,”[1] there is national and international evidence that short-stay accommodation pushes down rental vacancy rates and drives up rental prices, particularly in popular tourist locations.[2] Researchers have found that the conversion of dwellings from long-term rentals to non-primary residence STRAs has contributed to local rent price increases in high tourism areas such as Sydney’s Inner East, Byron Bay and Hobart.[3]

The ongoing housing affordability crisis in Australia has placed pressure on state and local governments to better manage STRA — particularly non-primary residence STRA — with the aim of slowing rental price growth for long-term rentals.

Planned introduction of a Short Stay Levy

During the 2024 Tasmanian Election, the Tasmanian Liberals made an election promise to introduce a levy on all short-stay accommodation, with the revenue from the levy committed to funding first home buyer initiatives.[4]

In December 2025, Treasury released a discussion paper and draft legislation to introduce the levy and invite submissions. This consultation period is open until 5pm on 25 February 2026. The discussion paper, draft legislation and additional information is available on the Department of Treasury and Finance website. TasCOSS made a submission to that consultation.

While our submission will delve into the issues in greater detail, we’ve provided below a succinct comparison of short-stay levies in other jurisdictions with the proposed levy for Tasmania. As of February 2026, only Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) have introduced levies on short-stay accommodation. If the proposed legislation for Tasmania is passed by the Parliament, Tasmania’s levy on short-stay accommodation will commence on 1 July 2026.

While the levy will be paid by booking platforms or owners, the Tasmanian Government expects they will pass on the entirety of the levy to customers, so that accommodation providers are not out-of-pocket.[5]

[1] Phibbs, P (2022), Monitoring the Impact of Short-Term rentals on Tasmanian Housing Markets, Baseline Report, Shelter Tasmania.
[2] Lang, M et al. (2025), Insights into Short-Term Rental Accommodation: History, statistics and landlord perspectives, no. 451, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Tasmanian Liberals (2024), ‘Making it easier for Tasmanians to own their own home,’ media release, 18 February 2024.
[5]  Department of Treasury and Finance (2025), Tasmania Short Stay Levy Discussion Paper, Tasmanian Government, December.

[1] State Revenue Office Victoria (2026), Understanding the Short-Stay Levy, Victorian Government.
[2] ACT Revenue Office (2026), Short-Term Rental Accommodation Levy, ACT Government.
[3] Department of Treasury and Finance (2025), Tasmania Short Stay Levy Discussion Paper, Tasmanian Government, December.

A note about data: As at 9 April 2026, the latest Tasmanian Government data on STRAs covers the period July – September 2024, see: CBOS Report 20 (Amended). We will update the data we’ve published here when the Government releases more recent data.

Figure 7.1:

In Tasmania, short-stay accommodation is classified as either ‘primary residence’ or ‘non-primary residence.’ NB: See above for an explanation of these two categories. In the north and north-west of Tasmania, non-primary residence STRAs make up over half of all STRAs (60% and 55% respectively). In contrast, in southern Tasmania, more than half (57%) of STRAs are ‘primary residence’ STRAs, reflecting a national trend towards this category of STRA growing in popularity.

Figure 7.2:

The number of non-primary residence STRA in Tasmania has grown by 26% from 3,112 in October-December 2019 to 3,918 in July-September 2024. The total number increased each quarter for three years from 2020, following a drop to 2,034 non-primary residence STRAs statewide in April-June 2020 during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 7.3:

As of July-September 2024, the number of non-primary residence short-stays varies significantly by LGA from a high of 563 in Hobart to a low of 6 in Brighton. There are 1,364 STRAs in northern Tasmania, 541 in the north-west of Tasmania and 2,013 in southern Tasmania.

Figure 7.4:

The density of non-primary residence STRAs is an expression of the number of STRAs relative to the total number of dwellings in each area. The density of non-primary residence STRAs varies significantly between LGAs, from 0.1% in Brighton to 10.6% in Glamorgan-Spring Bay.

Figure 7.5:

The growth rate of non-primary residence STRAs also varies significantly across LGAs. Five LGAs experienced negative growth between 2019 and 2024, while the number of STRAs more than doubled in the LGAs of the Central Highlands (104%), George Town (129%) and Latrobe (150%). Of Tasmania’s 29 LGAs, 10 experienced a growth rate exceeding 50% between 2020 and 2024.

Figure 7.6:

Statewide, non-primary residence STRAs make up 1.5% of all dwellings in Tasmania (as of July-September 2024). The density varies significantly between cities, from 0.6% of all dwellings in Devonport to 2.3% of all dwellings in the LGA of Hobart.

As we’ve noted above, there is good evidence that the presence of non-primary residence STRAs contribute to falling rental vacancy rates and higher long-term rental prices. As such, we’re supportive of the Tasmanian Government strengthening regulatory responses to non-primary residence STRAs.

There are four broad categories of regulatory response available to governments:

• Registration and licensing;
• Land use planning;
• Caps on the number of nights a dwelling can be used for STRAs; and
• Financial levers, such as levies.[1]

The Local Government Association of Tasmania (LGAT) has called for “fair regulation of non-housing use,” arguing that councils should be enabled to manage the impact of commercial short-stays through their planning schemes.”[2]

Short Stay Levy: Insufficient to change behaviour?

The proposed Short Stay Levy (SSL) for Tasmanian STRAs falls into the fourth category of regulation. For a levy to achieve an ultimate outcome of reducing the number of STRAs in Tasmania, the amount levied needs to be high enough to drive decisions about whether the owner uses the property for short-stays or long-term rental.[3]

TasCOSS’s view is that, at only 5% of the cost of accommodation, the size of the proposed levy is unlikely to reduce demand from customers of STRAs (if owners pass on the cost of the levy). For example, a stay costing $1,300 would attract a levy of only $65 for customers. Similarly, if owners opt to absorb the cost of the levy rather than pass it on to customers, a levy of $65 on a $1,300 stay is insufficient to materially change the cost-benefit analysis of an owner offering STRAs compared to long-term renting.

Hence, as a standalone regulatory measure, the proposed levy is unlikely to be effective in changing the behaviour of customers or owners of STRAs, which might then lead to fewer STRAs or at least slower growth in the number of STRAs. Arguably, the primary outcome of the proposed SSL will be to raise revenue for the Government — estimated at $11 million per annum.[4] TasCOSS’s view is that, rather than direct this revenue to initiatives for first home buyers, which risks further increasing house prices, it should be directed to supplementing funding for social housing, as per Victoria.

[1] Activate Consulting & Hornsby & Co. (2025), Short-Term Rentals in Australia: A qualitative exploration of regulatory impacts in 18 Local Government Areas, University of Canberra, Canberra.

[2] Local Government Association of Tasmania (2024), Local Government Housing Position Statement.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Department of Treasury and Finance (2025), Tasmania Short Stay Levy Discussion Paper, Tasmanian Government, December.

Need for local regulatory responses

A Tasmanian Liberal’s media release during the 2024 Tasmanian Election emphasised their commitment to statewide short-stay regulation, asserting their commitment to ensuring “continued statewide consistency of short-stay regulation in Tasmania, by prohibiting the imposition of arbitrary caps and further geographic distortions of the market.”[1]

TasCOSS is calling on the Tasmanian Government to facilitate local regulatory responses, such that individual councils can develop and implement responses to STRAs which respond to location-specific issues in their LGAs. As noted by Professor Peter Phibbs for Shelter Tasmania, “other Australian states have recognised that this ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is not efficient.”[2] As is evident when considering the varying density of STRAs in Tasmanian LGAs, there are different STRA markets operating (e.g. holiday regions versus suburban areas), and as such, “regulation that seeks to drive behaviours in one market may not work in another.”[3]

In Australia, different jurisdictions are using different combinations of local regulatory approaches. LGAT argues that where short-stay is impacting housing supply and security, councils in Tasmania should be empowered to “investigate and apply a differential rating regime for commercial short-stays in residential areas.”[4]

Need for better data

While regulation of STRAs is increasing across Australia and internationally, there is not yet good evidence of the effectiveness of these measures for improving long-term rental affordability. This highlights the critical importance of detailed, accurate and widely available data about STRAs to inform judgements about their impact on rental affordability and the effectiveness of various regulatory measures.[5] [6] [7]

One dataset obviously missing from what is currently published by the Tasmanian Government is about the number of long-term rentals which are converted to STRA, and vice versa. For more information, please see Professor Peter Phibbs’s excellent analyses of this type of data for Shelter Tasmania (see Progress Report #2).

[1] Tasmanian Liberals (2024), ‘Making it easier for Tasmanians to own their own home,’ media release, 18 February 2024.

[2] Phibbs, P (2022), Monitoring the Impact of Short-Term rentals on Tasmanian Housing Markets, Baseline Report, p. 29, Shelter Tasmania.

[3] Activate Consulting & Hornsby & Co. (2025), Short-Term Rentals in Australia: A qualitative exploration of regulatory impacts in 18 Local Government Areas, University of Canberra, Canberra.

[4] Local Government Association of Tasmania (2024), Local Government Housing Position Statement.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Phibbs, P (2022), Monitoring the Impact of Short-Term rentals on Tasmanian Housing Markets, Baseline Report, p. 29, Shelter Tasmania.

[7] Lang, M et al. (2025), Insights into Short-Term Rental Accommodation: History, statistics and landlord perspectives, no. 451, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne.

TasCOSS is calling on the Tasmanian Government to:

1. Introduce the proposed Short Stay Levy but increase the amount levied to 7.5% of the total booking costs, as per the Australian Capital Territory and direct the revenue raised to social housing rather than first home buyer initiatives.
2. Through policy and legislation, enable individual councils to introduce their own, bespoke regulatory responses to short-stay rental accommodation in their own Local Government Areas, informed by local economic, social and housing conditions.
3. Strengthen data reporting and analysis to provide more useful information about short-stay rental accommodation in Tasmania to inform policy-making.

Tasmania has a growing homelessness problem which impacts hundreds of children and young people. In 2021, 2,350 people were homeless on Census night — an increase of 45% since the 2016 Census. In 2021, 911 (39%) of homeless Tasmanians were children and young people aged 0-24 years.[1] Many children and young people who are homeless are accompanied by a parent or another protective adult, but others are alone (or unaccompanied) while homeless, making them even more vulnerable.

See our Glossary for how we have classified children and young people for the Tasmania’s State of Housing Dashboard.

Homeless children and young people might be:

• Staying in supported accommodation for homeless people;
• Sleeping in temporary accommodation;
• Couch surfing;
• Sleeping on the street or in a park; or
• Living in severely crowded dwellings.

See our Glossary for definitions of homelessness.

Homelessness is a problem because it can “profoundly affect a person’s mental and physical health, their education and employment opportunities, and their ability to fully participate in society.”[2] These effects are particularly damaging for children and young people, and include malnutrition, poor dental health, developmental delays and depression and anxiety, social disconnection and loneliness, as well as significant threats to physical and sexual safety.[3]

For insights into Tasmanian children’s experiences of home and homelessness, see Bessell, S, O’Sullivan, C & Lang, M (2024), More for Children Issues Paper: Housing, Children’s Policy Centre, Australian National University.

References:

[1] ABS, Census data from 2016 and 2021, Homelessness.
[2] AIHW, Specialist homelessness services 2023/24: Tasmania.
[3] Mission Australia (2025), ‘Homelessness and its lasting impact on children and young people,’ media release.

Additionally, many children and young people who are homeless and unaccompanied have had traumatic experiences before leaving home, including:

• Domestic and family violence;
• Physical and emotional abuse;
• Sexual abuse;
• Homophobia and transphobia;
• Neglect and abandonment; and/or
• Poverty. [1]

A mix of homelessness and housing services for children and young people is delivered in Tasmania, most of which are funded by Homes Tasmania. These include:

• Youth2Independence facilities: For young people who are “ready to participate in education, training or employment” in Launceston, Devonport, Burnie and Hobart. See: Homes Tasmania, Youth2Independence.
• Youth2Independence homes: Cluster homes or shared homes for young people who “will benefit from living in a small, home-like environment” in Burnie, Devonport, Launceston and Clarence LGAs. See: Homes Tasmania, Youth2Independence.
• Backyard units: Demountable dwellings for young people, available for households of four or more people, living in social housing owned by Homes Tasmania, with at least one person aged 15-25 years. See: Homes Tasmania, Backyard Units.
• Medium- to longer-term accommodation: Accommodation in Kingston for young people aged 12-15 years who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. Funded by the Department for Education, Children and Young People. See: Mission Australia, Kingston House.
• Crisis and transitional accommodation: A mix of accommodation in the south, north and north-west of Tasmania for either: (a) unaccompanied children aged 12-15 years; or (b) young people aged 13-20 years. See: Homes Tasmania, Housing Connect.

There is also a mix of support services targeted to children and young people in Tasmania who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness, such as rental subsidy programs or intensive youth support services, which are generally delivered by community service organisations.

Reference:

 [1] Homelessness Australia (2023), Child and youth homelessness fact sheet.

Updated on 9 April 2026 with the latest available data.

Indicators:

• In December 2025, 219 children (aged 0-14 years) and 595 young people (15-24 years) were clients of Specialist Homelessness Services in Tasmania.
• In 2024-25, 1,408 young people (15-24 years) presented alone to Specialist Homelessness Services in Tasmania.
• In the December quarter of 2025, 39 unaccompanied children under 18 years of age sought housing assistance from Housing Connect, the housing entry point for people experiencing homelessness or in housing need, delivered by Anglicare Tasmania.
• As at 28 February 2026, there were 1,136 young people as primary applicants waiting for social housing.

See our Glossary for an explanation of Specialist Homelessness Services.

Figure 4.1: Between 2020 and 2024, the number of young people as the primary applicant who were waiting for social housing increased by 16% from 886 to 1,027. In the same period, the number of young people waiting for social housing increased by 27% from 1,208 to 1,540.

Figure 4.2: In 2024-25, Tasmania’s rate of young people receiving support alone from Specialist Homelessness Services (168.9 clients per 10,000 people) was the second highest of all states and territories, after the Northern Territory.

Figure 4.3: From 2011-12 to 2023-24, Tasmania’s average annual increase in young people presenting alone to Specialist Homelessness Services (1.2%) was the second highest of all states and territories. In the same period, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory each showed an average annual decrease in young people presenting alone.

Figure 4.4: During 2024-25, Specialist Homelessness Services in Tasmania reported 9,822 unassisted requests for homelessness services. Of these, 6,006 unassisted requests (61%) were for children and young people (0-24 years), compared to 44% of unassisted requests nationally.

Figure 4.5: According to AIHW data released in August 2025, 1,296 children aged 12-17 years were receiving support from Specialist Homelessness Services in Tasmania in 2023-24. Of those, 480 children (37%) were unaccompanied by an adult. This was the highest number of unaccompanied children receiving homelessness support in Tasmania for at least the past five years.

Figure 4.6: Nearly six-in-ten (58%) unaccompanied children receiving Specialist Homelessness Services in Tasmania had one or more of three selected vulnerabilities: mental health issues; family and domestic violence; and problematic drug and/or alcohol use.

Figure 4.7: Each year since 2019-20, Tasmania has had the highest rate of unaccompanied children receiving support from Specialist Homelessness Services compared to all other states and territories, except the Northern Territory (excluded from Figure 4.7 due to data issues).

Despite the mix of accommodation and support services delivered to children and young people in Tasmania, this cohort still experiences a significant problem with homelessness. This is demonstrated by the data, including: Tasmania’s high rate of children and young people receiving support from homelessness services; and the growth in the number of children and young people receiving support alone. The homelessness system in Tasmania is simply not adequately resourced to meet the needs of children and young people — in 2024-25, 61% of people turned away from homelessness services were aged under 25 years.

At a strategic level, the Tasmanian Government needs to urgently develop a dedicated Child and Youth Action Plan for Homelessness, which would prioritise the specific care needs of children and young people. This Plan should include specific commitments to deliver more specialist support services and accommodation to homeless children and young people who are unaccompanied or have other complex needs. As well, the plan should aim to foster better coordination of universal child- and youth-centred services, such as education, family support, mental health and child protection, so as to increase efforts to prevent homelessness for children and young people.

Children and young people face significant barriers to accessing housing and homelessness services. Private rentals are often inaccessible for a young person who, by virtue of their age, usually lacks a good rental or employment history to support their application. For all Tasmanians, social housing is not really a viable housing option, given the growth in the number of applications on the waitlist (over 5,100 in June 2025) and the long wait time to be allocated social housing (over 18 months for priority applicants in June 2025). Young people experience a further barrier to accessing social housing as their very low income if receiving Youth Allowance and uncertain access to Commonwealth Rent Assistance means social housing providers may not see young people as financially viable tenants. Even if young people can access social housing, it may not be a good fit for them, with limited opportunities for living in shared housing.

Additionally, there is a general lack of medium- to longer-term housing options for children and young people who need support, which risks excluding them from stable and secure housing until they are deemed ‘housing ready.’ Young people who have high support needs (e.g. due to mental health, trauma or substance use) are usually ineligible for independent youth housing offered in Tasmania.

Unfortunately, given health system constraints in Tasmania, many ineligible young people will struggle to access the psychological or alcohol and other drug services they need to improve their health and wellbeing and thus make them eligible for Youth2Independence housing. See: Robinson, C (2022), Bigger, Better Stronger: Final Report, Anglicare Tasmania.

With regards to crisis and transitional accommodation for children and young people in Tasmania, there is an obvious need for adequate government funding to enable organisations to operate these services with a staffing model which can support the safety and wellbeing of both clients and staff.

TasCOSS calls on the Tasmanian Government to:

1. Develop a dedicated Child and Youth Homelessness Action Plan to better coordinate services for homeless children and young people, especially those with unaccompanied or other complex needs.
2. Strengthen child and youth homelessness prevention and early intervention by investing in family and educational supports, adolescent mental health care, tenancy support and dedicated youth social housing.
3. Expand homelessness support and accommodation services for children and young people, across the housing and support spectrum.
4. Adequately fund crisis and transitional accommodation for children and young people to ensure the safety and wellbeing of clients and staff.

Demand for social housing has grown significantly over the last decade, and is outstripping new supply, as reflected in continued growth in the social housing waitlist.

Tasmania’s wait time for social housing for ‘greatest-need households’ is now the second highest in Australia, after the Northern Territory. See: Productivity Commission data. 

This lengthy waiting period is putting financial, practical, relationship and emotional strain on many Tasmanians who urgently need access to safe, affordable and appropriate housing. 

Recent research by Dr Catherine Robinson and others exploring people’s experiences of lengthy waits for social housing in Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland found that waiting for social housing was detrimental to people’s health, wellbeing and safety. People described waiting a long time for social housing as horrible, demoralising, traumatic, nerve-wracking, tiring, dreadful, disappointing and soul-destroying. See: Waithood: The experiences of applying for and waiting for social housing, University of Technology Sydney.

Updated on 9 April 2026 with the latest available data.

Indicators: 

As at 28 February 2026: 

• There were 5,408 applicants on the social housing waitlist — the highest number ever. 
• There are 639 homeless applicants on the social housing waitlist who are entirely without housing (e.g. sleeping in a tent or car). There are another 3,527 applicants staying in temporary or insecure accommodation, such as a shelter or they’re couch surfing. 
• There are 685 applicants on the social housing waitlist who are ‘highest priority,’ which includes those leaving homelessness services, prison, hospital or out-of-home care.
• The average wait time for social housing for priority applicants (highest priority and standard priority) is 85.0 weeks, which equates to more than 18 months.

Figure 1.1: The number of applications on Tasmania’s social housing waitlist increased from 3,809 in January 2021 to 5,408 in February 2026. The waitlist has increased by 42% over 5 years. 

NB: See our Glossary for explanations of:

• Different definitions of homelessness; and
• Priority categories used for the social housing waitlist. 

Figure 1.2:

Tasmania’s social housing waitlist and wait times increased between 2020 and 2024: 

• The number of ‘highest priority’ applicants increased by 73% from 406 in 2020 to 707 in 2024. 
• The number of ‘standard priority’ applicants increased by 30% from 2,390 in 2020 to 3,098 in 2024. 
• The number of all applicants increased by 41% from 3,373 in 2020 to 4,745 in 2024. 
• The number of people on the social housing waitlist increased by 34% from 6,197 people in June 2020 to 8,273 people in July 2024.

NB: See our Glossary for an explanation of the number of applicants versus the number of people waiting for social housing. 

Figure 1.3:

As advised by Homes Tasmania at an Estimates Hearing in November 2025 – there are 2,487 applicants waiting for social housing in the South; 1,517 applicants waiting for social housing in the North West; and 1,332 applicants waiting for social housing in the North. In each region, over 80% of applicants are eligible for one- or two- bedroom homes.

Figure 1.4:

As advised by Homes Tasmania at an Estimates Heating in November 2025 – there are 3,850 social housing applicants with no children; 688 applicants with 1 child; 446 with 2 children; 224 applicants with 3 children; and 128 applicants with 4 or more children. This means there are at least 2,764 children on the social housing waitlist. The actual number of children on the waitlist is probably slightly higher, because it is likely that a small number of applicants have more than 4 children.

NB: We will update the data for Figures 1.3 and 1.4 when more detailed or up-to-date information is released by Homes Tasmania.

It is unacceptable that Tasmanians are waiting for many months or even years on the social housing waitlist before being allocated a home. Moreover, Tasmanians are waiting longer on average for social housing than people in other states and territories.

This means that, for many Tasmanians, social housing is currently not a realistic solution to their housing insecurity, and many are continuing to struggle in overcrowded, unsafe or unaffordable housing — or sleeping rough.

There is an urgent need for new social housing in Tasmania in addition to what has already been committed. Many organisations, including Shelter Tasmania, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and Everybody’s Home, have called on governments to deliver more social housing to achieve a target of 10% of all dwellings in Australia being social housing. Homes Tasmania has committed to delivering around 3,100 social housing dwellings by 2032 — that’s far too few to meet the growing demand in Tasmania.

TasCOSS is calling on the Tasmanian Government to:

1. Take targeted action to significantly reduce the number of applications and people on the social housing waitlist, and reduce the average wait time for social housing for priority applicants. 
2. Commit to an accelerated program of delivering more social housing, including a clear pathway to social housing being 10% of all dwellings in Tasmania.