Broadly speaking, it is not financially beneficial to host property on Airbnb instead of renting to a long-term tenant. In only a small number of cases, it is more profitable to list a property on Airbnb full time rather than on the rental market. With the exception of Melbourne City, the data shows that renting has higher expected takings over a time period of a standard lease agreement. The Airbnb hosting rate is around 70 per cent for Melbourne City.

Key research findings

Greater Sydney

• In 2017, there were 25,000 listings on Airbnb across Sydney that hosted guests, of which 15,200 were entire homes or apartments. The entire homes or apartment listings represent 0.9 per cent of total dwellings across Sydney.
• Entire homes or apartments represent 60 per cent of Airbnb listings in Greater Sydney, compared with 38 per cent private rooms and one per cent shared rooms
• 2,300 listings hosted no guests in 2017.
• The average nightly price for an entire home/ apartment on Airbnb in Greater Sydney is $150, compared to $59 for a private room and $39 for a shared room.
• Almost 60 per cent of listings hosted guests for between one and 30 nights per year. Only 10 per cent host guests for more than 180 days per year.
• Sydney Inner City had the highest number of listings that hosted guests in December 2017 with 3,213 listings.
• Blue Mountains, Camden, Carlingford, Hurstville, Mount Druitt, Parramatta and Ryde – Hunters Hill had the lowest number of listings that hosted guests in December 2017 with one listing each.
• The SA3 with the highest hosting rate for entire home/apartments in December 2017 was Fairfield with 85.7per cent and the lowest was Ku-ring-gai with 43.8 per cent.
• Pittwater had the highest average nightly price ($389) for entire homes or apartments in December 2017.
• Pennant Hills – Epping had with the lowest average nightly price ($110) for entire homes or apartments in December 2017.

Greater Melbourne

• In 2017, there were 14,500 listings on Airbnb across Melbourne that hosted guests, of which 8,500 were entire homes or apartments. The entire homes or apartment listings represent 0.5 per cent of total dwellings across Melbourne.
• Entire homes or apartments represent 63 per cent of Airbnb listings in Melbourne, compared with 35 per cent private rooms and two per cent shared rooms.
• The average nightly price for an entire home/ apartment on Airbnb in Melbourne is $125, compared to $49 for a private room and $34 for a shared room.
• Over 35 per cent of listings hosted guests for between one and 30 nights per year. Approximately 27 per cent of listings hosted guests for more than 180 days per year. This is less than 4,000 listings across Greater Melbourne.
• The SA3 with the highest number of listings that hosted guests in December 2017 was Melbourne City with 3289 listings.
• Banyule, Boroondara, Kingston, Manningham – West and Wyndham had the lowest number of listings that hosted guests in December 2017 were with one listing each.
• Keilor, with 87.5 per cent, had the highest hosting rate for entire home/apartments in December 2017 was and Bayside the lowest was with 43.8 per cent.
• Bayside had the highest average nightly price for entire homes or apartments in December 2017 at $212.
• Darebin-South had the lowest average nightly prices for entire homes or apartments in December 2017 with $102.

Notes

This research has focused exclusively on Greater Sydney and Greater Melbourne. This analysis has not covered properties which are rented on HomeAway (formerly Stayz) or other sharing platforms and does not capture other Australian cities.

• Analysis was undertaken at the Australian Bureau of Statistics Statistical Area 3 level.
• Where annual data is not available, the key statistics are for the peak month in 2017 – mostly December 2017.
• Other than the number of unique listings that hosted guests, that data is focused on entire homes/apartments.
• For the hosting rate, all areas with less than 10 unique listings that hosted guests are removed.