Property owners who offer short-term rental accommodation face the prospect of a future limit on the number of days they can rent their homes and a requirement to register their activities after the ACT government agreed to explore the options as part of an assessment of the sector.
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A cap on the number of short-term rental properties in the territory, as well as a cap on the number of days an owner can offer their property for rent and restrictions on offering investment properties as short-term rentals, will also be considered in a review due by the end of the year.
But Chief Minister Andrew Barr downplayed the impact short-term rentals - which are offered on platforms like US-based Airbnb - had on the capital's housing market, arguing the city needed at least 5000 extra long-term rentals which could not be achieved by curbing access to short-term rental accommodation.
The Greens' Johnathan Davis had sought government agreement to establish a registration system for short-term rental accommodation properties, moving a motion calling on the government to consider tighter regulation for short-term rental owners.
However, Mr Davis agreed "through gritted teeth" to support a Labor amendment which instead said the government would explore a registration system and noted most of the short-term rental accommodation listings in the ACT were concentrated in seven socially and economically advantaged suburbs.
"I believe that the most modest intervention is to establish a registration scheme for full properties used in short-term rentals," Mr Davis told the Assembly.
"That's been done right across the country. Many other states, NSW in particular. ... But I'm prepared to accept that by including that in the explorative work the government will do and report back to the Assembly by November, that that will be strongly considered."
Mr Barr had said any government regulation would focus on property investors offering short-term rental accommodation, rather that people participating in a genuine share economy and renting out spare rooms or offering their properties for rent while they were away from Canberra.
"I don't think anyone has an interest in seeking to intervene in stopping someone from renting out a spare bedroom," Mr Barr said.
"Share houses, short-term accommodation meeting the needs of people who are in Canberra for parliamentary sitting weeks, and the like - I think that is an entirely legitimate use of spare rooms, so there's nothing in that we see as being particularly problematic."
The opposition spokesman on housing, Mark Parton, noted the tension between Labor and the Greens during the debate.
"You don't know which we were going to go on these amendments. You just know if you might have been snookered on them. We'll certainly be supporting them because we think it gives a much more well-rounded position to this motion as a whole," Mr Parton said of Labor's amendments.
Labor and the Liberals had already voted together on Thursday to block a Greens' motion to refer the issue of "missing middle" housing - which includes terraces, walk-up flats, duplexes and triplexes - to a parliamentary committee, which parties had said was an attempt to circumvent usual committee processes.
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A government-run survey from September 2022 on short-term rental accommodation found 58 per cent of the roughly 1500 respondents said they would sometimes or regularly use short-term rental accommodation.
The survey found 2 per cent of respondents had an entire property available on a short-term rental platform, and 2 per cent of respondents were homeowners who had one or more rooms available for rent.
Labor's amended motion noted there were about 1100 active short-term rentals listed in the ACT, of which about 80 per cent were entire homes.
Mr Barr said he believed the rental vacancy rate in the ACT needed to be brought above 3 per cent. The motion noted the rate dropped to an all-time low of 0.5 per cent in 2022.
"We need to take the roughly 50,000 investment properties that we have now and grow that by 5000 to 10,000. That's not going to occur off the back of a policy and regulatory shift on short-term rental accommodation. It's not going to occur one small investor at a time," he said.
Mr Davis acknowledged changes to short-term rental regulation would not be "a panacea".
"I do not begrudge property owners wanting to get the greatest return on their investment. This Assembly knows that I worked in property for more than a decade. What deeply worries me is that we risk allowing short-term rentals to exist at the expense of vulnerable people in need of a safe and secure home," he said.
Housing Minister Yvette Berry noted that it was likely if short-term rentals were returned to the long-term rental market in the ACT they would be high-cost housing in advantaged areas, and do little to ease housing affordability pressure in the territory.
The Assembly unanimously agreed to refer the issue of short-term holiday accommodation for a committee inquiry in May 2022, following a motion moved by Mr Davis.
There has not been an inquiry into the issue in the time since.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
