Holiday rental market on the money for regional growth

The holiday rental industry is generating an estimated $31 billion per year in economic activity and supports 238,000 jobs, according to inaugural research released by the Holiday Rental Industry Association.

The survey by the new industry body found holiday rentals generate over $5.2 billion per year in direct spending on an estimated 276,000 holiday rental dwellings.

These rental dwellings are classified as privately-owned houses and apartments, not hotel accommodation.

It found that holiday-makers spend more than 25 million nights in holiday rental accommodation, spending on average $145 per night per booking.

Other industries benefiting from domestic holiday makers were found to include car hire companies, local transport, restaurants, self-catering businesses and entertainment, all sharing in $3 billion of people’s overall holiday expenditure.

HRIA chair Allison Manners says the report was designed to start generating some factual data on the impact of the holiday rentals market in Australia.

She told SmartCompany there are around 623,000 holiday properties across the country, with 276,000 of those available for rental purposes. She thinks there could me more that are unaccounted for.

“We were pleasantly surprised to see the enormous significance of rental properties in regional areas,” she says.

“In New South Wales, 86% of the rentals were outside the city areas, which is positive for supporting jobs and income in regional areas.”

Areas in each state taking the lion’s share of rentals include the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, which has 45% of the SA market, Hobart in Tasmania at 45% of the market, South West Western Australia at 41.5% and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland at 32%.

Other popular areas are the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, which has 26.6% of the Victorian market the South Coast of New South Wales which has 24% of the state’s market and the Gold Coast in Queensland which has 21% of the market. 

Manners hopes to see more state and local government policies that support the sustainable growth of the holiday and short term rentals, to help drive economic growth, jobs and visitation in these regions.

The report was conducted by BIS Shrapnel and surveyed 8000 Australian households.