Overview
- Shelter WA called for a halt on new short‑term holiday homes in places with rental vacancy below 3 percent.
- Its report counted about 10,400 short‑stay listings across Western Australia against roughly 3,700 long‑term rentals, with statewide ratios near 3 to 1 and regional hotspots reaching 15 to 1 or even towns with none for lease.
- More than half of short‑stays are one‑ and two‑bedroom homes in regular suburbs, which reduces the smaller, lower‑cost rentals many singles, older renters and key workers need.
- The state government says a register and incentives returned about 800 properties to long‑term leasing, while Shelter WA notes roughly 900 new short‑stays appeared over the same period.
- Industry operators reject being cast as the main cause and point to broader supply and cost pressures, as councils such as Busselton move to ban new holiday homes in key residential areas.