Snow seasons make rental market frosty for local residents

ABC NEWS (Australia)

For the town of Jindabyne in the snowy mountains the ski season can be both a blessing and a curse. The yearly influx of tourists helps drive the economy. But the proliferation of short-term rentals is making it harder for locals to afford somewhere to live full time with many places remaining empty for the rest of the year.

Transcript

00:00Charlie Steinbecker is familiar with how the town of Jindabyne changes during snow season.

00:08Winter versus summer is like chalk and cheese. I think our population grows almost tenfold in the winter.

00:14More than one quarter of the Jindabyne property stock is made up of short-term rental accommodation.

00:19A lot of houses that just sit vacant for most of the year because they can make so much money through the winter.

00:24The median rent here has risen 35% for houses and nearly 85% for units over the past five years.

00:34I've pretty much been forced to move out to Berridale, which is like a town 20 minutes down the road. It's cheaper.

00:40I do know quite a number of people in my age group who have moved to Canberra because they just can't afford to live here.

00:49Nancy Gant-Thompson takes on a border each winter.

00:52The New South Wales government is currently reviewing the regulations that deal with short-term rental accommodation.

01:09Last year, the Snowy Monero Regional Council made a submission to the review,

01:13which acknowledged the tourism benefits of short-term rentals, but raised concerns about the impacts on housing affordability.

01:20The property sector is warning against a Byron Bay-style 60-day cap in a town that relies on tourism.

01:28It's supermarkets, it's restaurants, it's cafes, it's petrol stations, and they help keep our town alive and functioning.

01:37I have made a pretty big investment in the area, and I guess I just hope that things change.

01:44The short-term stays with a long-term impact.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended