Today marks an Australian first as the Tasmanian Government reports on the first comprehensive set of data ever collected on short stay accommodation.
The report tells us that Tasmania’s nation leading legislation is doing exactly what it said it would:
The data collected shows that Tasmanians from right around the state are using short stay accommodation sites in varying degrees with a clear concentration in tourism hot spots.
The data shows that of the nearly 5500 unique residential listings from around the state, 43.3 per cent were people renting out part of their own homes.
The report shows a clear distinction between the use of properties in the Greater Hobart area compared to other parts of Tasmania.
The majority of listings in Greater Hobart are people sharing their own home. Out of the 2262 premises recorded, 1243 (55 per cent) are listed as being a primary place of residence; 1019 were investment properties.
As at the 2016 Census, there were 22,523 rental properties in Greater Hobart.
In regional areas of the state, more investment properties or holiday shacks are used for short stay accommodation.
In Glamorgan/Spring Bay only 96 premises out of a total of 550 (17.5 per cent) were listed as a principal place of residence and in Break O’Day only 62 premises out of a total of 324 (19.1 per cent) were listed as the principal place of residence.
The release of the short stay data means local councils will now be able to enforce the planning requirements in their areas and make future policy and planning decisions based on evidence, not speculation.
The Tasmanian Liberal Government will conduct further analysis on short stay data when the next quarter’s results are released.
To see the report, visit
https://www.cbos.tas.gov.au/topics/housing/short-stay-accommodation-act