Media Release — Housing affordability in key areas threatened by proposed Busselton STR rezoning

One of Western Australia’s leading short term rental (STR) property managers says the industry has been “blindsided” by City of Busselton’s (COB) approach to splitting the council area into preferred and non-preferred STR zones, a move that will create a two-tier property economy.

Tegan Wilde, founder of Geographe Holiday Homes, says COB has rushed the planning process and already prevented new STR development applications even though the proposed zoning changes in Busselton and Dunsborough are still up for debate.

Wilde, a board member of the Australia and New Zealand Short Term Rental Association, says the proposed changes will boost prices in the preferred STR zones and do nothing to alleviate local housing shortages.

“This will drive up property prices in the preferred STR zones, particularly in sought-after beachside areas, while values in non-preferred areas may not experience the same level of growth,” Wilde says.“With the expansion of the local airport to accommodate international and interstate flights, these high-demand locations are likely to attract out-of-town investors looking for holiday homes.

“This increased competition may push prices beyond the reach of local buyers, further reducing housing affordability and diminishing the sense of local community as more properties transition to short-term holiday stays.”

She adds, “it was put through really quickly and they’ve already stopped people putting in their development applications if they are in the non-preferred areas.

“I’ve got three clients in the non-preferred areas who now can’t do holiday lets because they weren’t informed things were going to change, otherwise they would have put their applications in months ago – they thought they had time and now they’re stuck.”

At a recent COB meeting, senior planning officer Emma Craddock recommended the new zones be approved, however councillors voted to include parts of East Busselton in the non-preferred area, a last-minute move that requires further public consultation.

COB Deputy Mayor, Councillor Anne Ryan, who declared an interest and left the meeting, says the rezoning proposal is still up in the air.

“Just because that’s the officer’s recommendation, doesn’t mean that’s what’s going to happen. Council could very well vote and say, ‘no we’re not having any of these exclusion zones, we’ve changed our mind’.”

Cr Ryan says she supports the right to operate a short term rental anywhere in the region.

“It’s a huge issue, especially when we’re also being touted as a holiday destination of great value and so we need the houses for people to rent when they come and stay,” says Cr Ryan.

“I come from a private business background and my attitude is that you should be able to buy a house and do with it whatever you like because you paid the money to do whatever you like.”

She agrees there is confusion not only about this process but also about who administers STR following the WA government’s launch of a statewide register on January 1 that superseded all local government initiatives.

Busselton for example was successfully operating a local STR registration and code of conduct scheme supported by all stakeholders which “Council could review as it was a work in progress,” says Ryan.

“Now that’s gone, we’ve got no policy whatsoever.”

She says there are issues in relation to STR that need to be addressed through a Code of Conduct. “We do receive complaints about noise, overcrowding, rubbish and dogs.”

Wilde strongly supports a code of conduct and says that the supply of worker and emergency accommodation will also be impacted by the new zones with 40% of stays booked for non-holiday purposes.

Further information:

Martin Kelly MJKpr for ASTRA (0414) 774 978 martinkelly@mjkpr.au

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