Tourism Northern Tasmania has told a Legislative Council inquiry on short-term accommodation that the sharing sector is not causing major issues in housing availability and affordability in the region.
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Chief executive officer Chris Griffin (pictured) said few if any short-stay accommodation venues listed on online platforms like Airbnb were in areas known for affordable housing, like Ravenswood and Rocherlea, and listings were mostly situated in central Launceston or defined visitor precincts.
“The majority impact on lack of availability of long-term rentals be they affordable or in other price categories cannot be confidently explained by an increase in short-stay accommodation,” he said.
“Rather the changing dynamic of property ownership, the need for property owners to gain a good return upon their investments, and properties converting to owner occupiers seem to be more telling influences.”
Mr Griffin said there were more than 400 Airbnb properties operating in Launceston with 90 per cent of them located within five kilometres of the CBD.
He said 72 per cent of these were full rentals, though 20 per cent of them were operated by commercial accommodation providers.
About 235 properties were operated by “private hosts”, Mr Griffin said.
He said there were more than 5000 hotel beds in Launceston and up to 1700 Airbnb beds, which meant the new short-stay market had expanded capacity by up to 25 per cent.
The commercial occupancy rate remained much higher, however, at 71.2 per cent at the end of May, compared to an average rate for Airbnb venues of 40 per cent.
Each accommodation type had an average per night return of $142.
There have been 192 submissions made to the Legislative Council inquiry with more than half from private host operators.
The state’s key social, community and housing lobby groups have also made submissions as have representative groups in the hospitality and tourism sector.
Hearings will be held in different parts of the state during September and October.