Brisbane has emerged as one of the best performing capital cities for Airbnb and short-term rentals in 2020, despite the impact of domestic and international travel restrictions. As a central hub in the booming South-East Queensland region, a shortage of quality short-term rental properties has seen average daily rates rise almost 10% year-over-year between December 2019 and December 2020.
Looking for more information on Brisbane's short-term rental market? Download the 2021 Brisbane short-term rental report using the link below:
In this article, we review the latest short-term rental market data from AirDNA and MadeComfy to understand the supply and demand dynamics driving Brisbane's short-term rental market.
Uncertainty in the travel and tourism market from March 2020 caused by temporary drops in occupancy rate at the start of the pandemic led to an exodus of Brisbane property owners away from short-term rentals and Airbnb in favour of securing longer tenancies at discounted rental rates. Throughout the year, active listings declined consistently each month until only a small recovery from September:
Between December 2019 to December 2020, approximately 25% of active listings were removed from Brisbane's short-term rental market, even as demand and occupancy rates improved later in the year as lockdown and travel restrictions eased and Covid-19 cases declined across the country (excluding the Victorian lockdown).
However this drop in supply also resulted in the property owners that remained with short-term rentals being able to benefit as demand picked up over the next few months leading into the peak summer season, with increasing preference by guests to rent entire homes over hotel rooms for space and privacy reasons.
Comparing December 2019 - December 2020 year-over-year, average daily rates per month for Brisbane short-term rentals rose 10%. Between the peak of the pandemic's impact in May to December, average daily rates rose by by 30%.
In addition to higher overall demand, average daily rates in 2020 were also driven by larger property bookings, with particularly large premiums for three-bedroom apartments and houses averaging $249 per night in December according to data from MadeComfy.
