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SPECIAL REPORT
Rising short stay rates won’t solve housing problems
By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter
A decision by the Brisbane City Council to increase rates for short-stay properties will not help the current housing crisis “one jot”, nor damage management rights according to ARAMA CEO Trevor Rawnsley. With the city mired in a chronic shortage of rental properties, Brisbane lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner, said increased rates on short-stay properties would provide an incentive to landlords to rent their property to longer term tenants. Landlords who rent out their entire property for longer than 60 days a year will now pay 50 percent more in rates. Mr Schrinner said the rate increase would mean a property on Brisbane’s minimum rating category would pay $600 extra a year. Handing down the city’s $4billion budget the LNP lord mayor said a new “transitory accommodation” category would
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The rate rise is not going to make a jot of difference to housing affordability help tackle housing availability and affordability in Australia’s fastest growing capital city. Mr Rawnsley said the decision would have “some impact” on buildings used for shortstay accommodation but not much and was more about “Brisbane City Council’s way of trying to dress up a new tax and to make it sound like they’re saving the world.” “They’re trying to make a silk purse out of sow’s ear,” Mr Rawnsley said. “In our opinion the rate rise is not going to make a jot of difference to housing affordability, it’s not going to suddenly push people out of short-term rentals into long term tenancy. “What it will do is deliver a financial windfall for Brisbane
City Council in the same way that other councils have discovered over the years that they can apply a levy. For the last 15 years, the Gold Coast City Council has applied a levy to all short-term letting and that money goes to promote Destination Gold Coast. “This is not a new thing. “I think Brisbane City Council has just discovered that while Brisbane is not exactly a mass tourism destination, they need to do something that looks like they’re responding to housing affordability and shortage of long-term rentals. “Ultimately what it means is that with an average occupancy of 65 percent it’s going to cause an increase in tariff of less than $2 a night, so investor-owners
INDUSTRY
will need to decide whether they ask their agent which is our guys, the management rights operators, whether they increase the tariff by a couple of bucks a night or will they get a better return if they converted the property from a short stay to long-term rental. “I think most people will just whack up another couple of bucks a night and no one will ever know.” “The punter will pay the extra tariff and the council will get their extra tax. Brisbane City Council is under the pump with floods, they are enormously out of pocket, and they do a prett y good job.” Mr Rawnsley said while he would never be a cheerleader for new taxes or more taxes, this one was not going to hurt much. “What I don’t like, though, is people piling on to the antishort-stay section by saying things like Airbnb and other management rights are bad for housing affordability,” he said. “Brisbane City Council’s internal marketing has spun it in such a way that this new rate rise is going to save the planet. ResortNews | August 2022
