Updated on: September 4, 2025
In 2024, being an Airbnb host in Australia isn’t as simple as it used to be. New rules have rolled out across different states, and keeping up with them can feel like a job in itself. The goal behind these regulations is clear enough – make hosting safer, keep competition fair, and hold everyone accountable – but for hosts, it means adjusting how they run things.
This piece breaks down the latest changes, what they actually mean in practice, and how they affect both sides – hosts trying to manage rentals and guests booking short stays. If you’re in the short-term rental game, these are updates you can’t afford to ignore.
Airbnb in Australia: 2024 Snapshot
Airbnb is still growing in Australia this year. Listings are up – by about 11% compared to last year – and it’s not just Sydney and Melbourne. Smaller regions are feeling the bump too. The short-term rental market isn’t slowing down.
What’s interesting is that performance hasn’t dipped much, even with more properties online. Occupancy is holding up, even edging higher in some spots. Rates and revenue figures jump around (ADR, RevPAR – you name it), but honestly, that’s just how this market works. Nothing stays flat for long.
Now, the housing question. People like to blame Airbnbs for affordability issues, and sure, in some areas they make things tighter. But it’s not the only factor. Local economies, new housing supply, wages – all of that matters just as much, sometimes more.
One thing worth pointing out: not every booking is about vacations. Airbnbs are used by contractors on short jobs, students needing a few months’ housing, families between moves. Local shops, restaurants, and services feel that spend. It’s not just tourism.
So yeah, challenges exist – housing concerns, regulations, market ups and downs. But the big picture? Demand’s strong, hosts are adapting, and the sector keeps moving forward.
Airbnb in Australia: What is the role of the host?
Being an Airbnb host here isn’t just about sticking a property online and waiting for people to book. That’s the easy part. The real job is keeping guests happy while making sure you don’t break any of the rules – and there are more of those every year. It’s hospitality, business, and a bit of paperwork rolled into one.
Guest experience comes first. Clean place, working appliances, clear check-in instructions – that’s the baseline. But reviews don’t usually mention the basics. They mention the personal touches: the bottle of water by the bed, a quick list of local cafés, letting someone check in early because their flight landed at 6 a.m. Those little things add up fast.
Then there’s the law. Australia’s clamping down on short-term rentals. Sydney’s got its 180-day cap, Byron Shire’s stricter at 60. From January 2025, you even have to be on the STRA register. And, of course, the tax office expects its cut – income reporting, deductions, all of it. Ignore this stuff and sooner or later it bites you.
Pricing is another headache. One weekend you’re full because there’s a music festival, the next you’re wondering why no one booked. Some hosts try to tweak prices by hand, but most eventually give up and lean on software. Tools like Hostify can adjust rates automatically, sync bookings, and keep messages flowing so you’re not glued to your phone all day.
Safety matters too. Guests want to feel secure, and neighbors don’t want chaos. Smart locks, clear house rules, quiet hours, working smoke alarms – it’s not glamorous but it keeps problems away. And if you don’t keep the property maintained, one bad review can undo months of effort.
And finally, there’s the bigger picture. Hosting touches the whole community. Guests spend in local cafés, shops, and attractions, which is great. But too much noise, rubbish, or constant turnover can annoy neighbors fast. Good hosts think about both sides.
The market itself keeps shifting. Lately it’s all about sustainable stays, high-speed WiFi for digital nomads, and yes – pet-friendly options. If you don’t adapt, you fall behind.
Bottom line: hosting in Australia is work. It can be rewarding, but it’s not passive income. It’s a mix of rules, guest care, and smart management. Do it right, and it pays. Do it sloppy, and you’ll burn out.
New Regulations for Airbnb Property Management in Australia
Airbnb rules in Australia? They change. A lot. One year everything feels stable, then suddenly there’s a new limit, a new register, or another form to deal with. Truth is, it’s a moving target.
Lawmakers say the goal is safety, fairness, affordability – all good things on paper. But for hosts, it often feels like more red tape. Some of it helps, sure. Some of it just adds to the workload.
And that’s the thing: hosting isn’t just about welcoming guests anymore. It’s also about keeping track of rules that shift from city to city, sometimes mid-year. Miss one of those updates and you could be looking at fines – or worse, losing your listing completely.
The Short-Term Rental Register
Australia’s rolling out a new system for short-term rentals, and it’s a big change for Airbnb hosts. The STRA Register officially launched on July 1, 2024, and by January 1, 2025, every property used for short-term stays has to be on it. Skip registration and you’re looking at fines.
The idea is simple: make hosting more transparent and hold operators accountable. The register collects basic details about properties so regulators know who’s playing by the rules.
There are also some planning changes that go along with it. For example, if you’re running a hosted rental (you live in the property while guests stay), you don’t need development approval anymore. For un-hosted rentals in Perth, you can operate without approval for up to 90 nights a year. It gives hosts a bit of flexibility without removing oversight.
If you’ve already got planning approval for your STRA, you’re fine – that stays valid. But if you’re new to hosting, you’ll need to register and make sure your property fits the local rules. Basically, the government wants consistency, and hosts need to stay on top of the paperwork to avoid headaches.
Short-Term Rental Tax in Australia
If you’re running an Airbnb in Australia, the tax side of things is something you can’t ignore. The ATO treats the money you earn like rental income, so yes – it has to be reported. Doesn’t matter if it’s one room for a few weekends or your whole house for months at a time.
The upside? You can usually claim back some of your costs. Mortgage interest, power bills, insurance, cleaning, even property management fees. The catch is that you don’t always get to claim 100% – it depends on how and when you rent.
For example, say you rent your whole place for most of the year but keep it for yourself over Christmas. You’d work out the days it was actually rented and claim that percentage of your expenses. If it’s one bedroom in your house that’s on Airbnb all year, you’d figure out the floor space of that room and add a share of the common areas like the kitchen or living room. If it’s just a room for part of the year, well – you have to juggle both: the space and the time.
It’s not glamorous, but that’s how the ATO expects you to do it. The main thing is keeping records – dates, expenses, and how you calculated everything. Without that, deductions are hard to defend if the tax office asks questions.
Limits on Short-Term Rentals in Australia
If you’re running an Airbnb in Australia, you’ll need to keep an eye on the day limits. A number of councils have set caps on how many nights a non-hosted property (where the owner isn’t living on site) can be rented out each year. The idea is to slow the impact on housing availability and keep communities from being overrun by short stays.
Right now, in Greater Sydney and parts of Ballina, Clarence Valley, and Muswellbrook, the cap sits at 180 days a year. That still gives hosts about half the calendar to work with.
Byron Shire, though, has gone much stricter. Starting September 23, 2024, non-hosted rentals there will be capped at just 60 days per year. That’s a big cutback, and it came after the council argued short-term rentals were squeezing out long-term housing for locals.
For hosts, it means adapting. Some will shift to hosted rentals, others may have to rethink how they use their property altogether. The rules aren’t the same everywhere, so the safest move is to stay on top of your local council’s updates. Missing a change could cost you bookings – or worse, leave you non-compliant.
WA Offers Cash to Boost Long-Term Rentals
Western Australia is trying a new approach to ease the housing crunch: paying property owners to bring empty homes back onto the rental market.
As part of the 2024–25 budget, the state government has set aside $5 million for what they’re calling the Vacant Property Rental Incentive Scheme. The deal is pretty simple – if you’ve got a property that’s been sitting empty for at least six months, you can get $5,000 for leasing it out to long-term tenants. Up to 1,000 homes are covered under the scheme.
There are some rules, of course. The property has to be self-contained (its own bathroom, kitchen, toilet) and you’ve got to commit to at least a 12-month lease. Once the place is rented and someone moves in, the government pays out the $5,000.
Here’s the catch: if the lease ends early, the owner has six weeks to re-let it as a long-term rental, otherwise the money has to be paid back.
This isn’t the first time WA has offered something like this. An earlier Short-Term Rental Incentive Scheme encouraged owners to move homes off Airbnb and into the regular rental pool. Around 150 owners took that deal, and the application window has now been extended until November 8, 2024.
The goal with both schemes is straightforward – free up more housing for locals and make rentals a bit easier to find in a market that’s been squeezed for years.
What These Rules Mean for Airbnb Hosts
So, how do all these new rules and incentives actually play out for Airbnb hosts in Australia? In short: they change the game.
Take the caps, for example. In Greater Sydney, non-hosted rentals are limited to 180 days a year. In Byron Shire, it’s only 60. That’s a huge cut, and for some hosts it means losing a big chunk of potential income. If you’ve been relying on short-term bookings to cover your mortgage, those limits sting.
Then there are the government incentives. WA is offering cash to owners who move vacant homes into the long-term rental pool. Sounds good on the surface – $5,000 in your pocket – but for Airbnb hosts it means more competition from traditional rentals. More long-term stock can put pressure on occupancy rates and pricing in the short-term market.
And compliance? That’s another layer of work. Registrations, lease rules, safety standards – miss one requirement and you’re suddenly in trouble. Some hosts will adapt, others might decide it’s not worth the hassle.
At the end of the day, hosts need to crunch the numbers. Is the incentive money worth giving up short-term flexibility? Do the caps make your current setup unprofitable? Some hosts are already shifting strategies – diversifying their listings, adjusting pricing, or even testing out other income streams alongside Airbnb.
The one certainty? Hosting isn’t as simple as it used to be, and ignoring the changes isn’t an option.
Making Compliance Less Painful
The new rules around short-term rentals in Australia can feel overwhelming, but there are ways to make life easier as a host. It’s not about doing everything perfectly – it’s about staying organised and not letting the admin side eat you alive.
First, don’t tune out the updates. Councils and state governments love changing the rules, and missing one of those changes can cost you. Check government sites now and then, or follow industry groups that share the news. It’s boring, sure, but cheaper than a fine.
Next, double-check your property actually qualifies under the latest requirements. Some schemes only apply if a place has been vacant long enough, or if it hasn’t already been through another incentive program. Little details like that can trip you up.
Tech helps too. Tools like Hostify can take some of the grunt work off your plate – tracking bookings, keeping an eye on occupancy limits, even spitting out reports if you need them. It’s not magic, but it saves you from living in spreadsheets.
And finally, make sure guests know the house rules. If there are limits on noise, rubbish, or how many people can stay, put it in writing and communicate it clearly. Most guests are fine with boundaries as long as you explain them.
Compliance isn’t fun, but with the right systems and habits, it doesn’t have to be a full-time headache.
Airbnb Property Management in Australia: What’s Next?
Airbnb in Australia is changing fast. New rules, new tech, different kinds of travelers – hosts can’t just set and forget anymore. If you want to stay ahead, you’ll have to adapt.
One big shift is regulation. Governments aren’t easing up. More regions are adding caps like Sydney and Byron Shire, and there’s talk of stricter penalties for properties that don’t comply. Insurance rules could tighten too. Basically, the “casual host” era is fading, and anyone treating it like a business needs to keep up or risk being pushed out.
On the flip side, tech is making the management side a lot easier. Smart locks, self-check-ins, automated pricing tools – all of this saves time and keeps guests happier. Property management software like Hostify pulls everything into one place, which is a lifesaver if you’re juggling more than one property. Without automation, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with the competition.
Another trend? Hosts moving into hybrid models. Some are doing short stays part of the year, then switching to longer rentals when demand slows or rules tighten. Mid-term stays (like one to six months) are also on the rise – remote workers, students, and expats love them. It’s not as flashy as nightly bookings, but it brings stability.
And then there’s sustainability. Travelers are starting to care about how “green” their stay is. Energy-efficient appliances, proper recycling setups, even solar panels – these things are no longer just nice extras. They can actually be dealbreakers for certain guests.
Guests themselves are also changing. They want flexibility, personalized recommendations, unique stays. Some want a curated local guide, others want seamless digital check-ins and strong WiFi so they can work remotely. The bar keeps rising.
All this means the market’s only going to get more competitive. Basic listings won’t cut it anymore. Hosts who stand out – with design, amenities, or just better marketing – will be the ones who thrive.
The bottom line? Hosting in Australia is tougher than it used to be, but the opportunities are still there. The hosts who win will be the ones who adapt, use smart tools, and focus on giving guests a great experience.
If you’re managing multiple properties, doing it manually is a nightmare. That’s where platforms like Hostify help – automating bookings, syncing calendars, adjusting pricing, and cutting through the admin. It’s not about making hosting easy (it never really is) – it’s about making it manageable.
📢 Want to stay ahead of the curve? Book a demo with Hostify today and discover how we can help you navigate the future of Airbnb property management in Australia!
