Victoria's short-stay levy raised $86m in year one. Brisbane paused its permit scheme, and Tasmania's is one vote away

This article is general information only. It does not consider your personal circumstances and is not tax, credit or investment advice. Speak to a registered tax agent, licensed property lawyer or accountant before acting on any of the figures below.

The map, in one paragraph#

Twenty-one months after Victoria became the first Australian state to price short-stay accommodation directly, the reform map has hardened into a state-by-state patchwork rather than a national framework. Victoria's 7.5% levy is in the wall for a second full year with about $86 million landing in Homes Victoria's account. Western Australia runs a register but no levy and closed its incentive scheme in February. New South Wales is holding its 2020 framework steady with a $65 fee and a 180-day cap in Greater Sydney. Queensland is doing nothing at the state level and Brisbane just paused its own proposed permit scheme on 12 May. Tasmania is one vote in the Legislative Council away from a 5% levy of its own. The Australian Taxation Office is meanwhile pulling data on 190,000 short-stay and holiday-home owners into its FY26 program. If you own an investment property let short-stay in any of those five states, the letters, register requirements and tax-time positions matter to your net yield line more than the RBA decision five days out.

Victoria: the reference case#

Victoria's Short Stay Levy Act 2024 kicked in on 1 January 2025. Twenty-one months into operation, the mechanics that matter to a landlord are settled.

The levy is 7.5% of the total booking fee on any stay under 28 nights at a residential property that is not the operator's principal place of residence and not commercial residential premises. Total booking fee means the room rate plus cleaning fees plus GST. Airbnb, Stayz and Booking.com collect it at booking and remit to the State Revenue Office. A direct-booked stay puts the collection obligation on the operator. Late payment attracts interest and, above certain thresholds, penalty tax.

Revenue for the first year of operation through end-January 2026 was approximately $86 million, per the Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office's short-stay levy publication. The 2026-27 Victorian Budget forecasts a similar take of about $87 million for the coming year. Of the total, 25% is earmarked for regional Victoria with the balance flowing to Homes Victoria to fund social and affordable housing.

The change that runs alongside the levy is the owners corporation power. A 75% majority resolution of the owners corporation under the Owners Corporations Act 1996 can now prohibit short stays entirely across a scheme. That is not a levy question. It is a stroke-of-the-pen question for any strata building. If your Melbourne apartment sits in an OC that convenes an AGM on the topic and gets 75% up, your short-stay business ends when the resolution takes effect regardless of any rate you were paying.

AirDNA data for Victoria captured by ABC News on 16 April 2026 tells a stock-response story: active listings grew 22% in 2024 to 45,178, then only 2.6% to 46,342 across 2025 in the levy's first year of operation, and were tracking 0.5% below the prior year in January 2026. Attribution is contested. Rates, macro conditions and platform-side changes all overlap the same period. What is not contested is the reversal of the trajectory.

Western Australia: register only, no levy, no incentive left#

The Short-Term Rental Accommodation Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 22 April 2024, the register opened on 1 July 2024, and mandatory registration for both hosted and un-hosted providers commenced on 1 January 2025 through the WA STRA Register.

Two things a landlord needs to know as at 24 September 2026:

One, there is no state-level levy in WA. There is a register and there are conduct standards. There is no percentage or flat fee applied on a per-booking basis.

Two, the $10,000 STRA Incentive Scheme has run out. The scheme paid a one-off grant to an owner who converted an un-hosted STR listing to a long-term rental for at least twelve months. Phase 3 closed in February 2026 after funds were exhausted and no phase 4 has been announced. If you were counting on the incentive as an exit route from an under-performing STR, it is no longer on offer.

Councils retain zoning powers. A number of Perth metropolitan councils require a development approval for un-hosted STR in some residential zones. Registration on the state register does not override that.

New South Wales: 180 days, $65, holding pattern#

NSW is running the framework it built in 2020 with the fee schedule unchanged.

Registration on the NSW Short-Term Rental Accommodation Register costs $65 for the initial 12 months and $25 for each subsequent annual renewal. Registered properties display a unique STRA ID that must be shown on the listing.

The 180-day annual cap on non-hosted stays applies in Greater Sydney, Ballina Shire, parts of Clarence Valley and Muswellbrook. Byron Shire tightened to 60 days from 26 September 2024. Bookings of 21 or more consecutive nights do not count toward the annual cap.

The framework is under industry-wide review and the housing NGOs continue to push for a state levy. As at 24 September 2026 there is no legislated 2026 change to fees, days or scope. Anyone renewing a Sydney listing today is renewing on the same terms as 2024.

Queensland: no state levy, 65% Brisbane rates surcharge, Council permit scheme paused#

Queensland has no state short-stay levy and no state-level permit scheme.

Brisbane City Council's rates surcharge on properties used exclusively for short-stay accommodation is 65%, unchanged in the 2026-27 Council Budget. It was introduced at 50% in 2022 and lifted to 65% in the 2023-24 budget. Applied on top of general rates, it drags on net yield for any Brisbane investor running full-time short-stay.

The bigger 2026 story is a policy that is not happening. On 12 May 2026 Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announced the proposed Short Stay Accommodation Local Law 2025 will not proceed at this time. The Local Law would have required a Council permit for un-hosted STR from 1 July 2026 and imposed an annual cap on days per property. The Council statement cited the compounding uncertainty of the federal negative gearing and CGT changes announced in the 12 May 2026 Federal Budget. Council said it would revisit the framework once federal settings settle. On the current federal trajectory that is not before 1 July 2027, when the negative gearing changes commence for established dwellings.

Body corporate powers matter more in Queensland than any state. Under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997, the QCAT position on the record is that body corporates cannot ban short stays by by-law under a BCCM scheme. Schemes registered under the older Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980 (BUGTA) can. A Queensland investor buying into a strata building for short-stay should read the disclosure statement to confirm which Act the scheme sits under before signing.

Tasmania: one vote away from a 5% levy#

The Short Stay Levy Bill 2026 passed the Tasmanian House of Assembly on 8 May 2026 by 22 votes to 9 with the Labor Opposition voting against (ABC News, 8 May 2026).

The Bill imposes a 5% visitor-paid levy on short-stay accommodation in Tasmania and is forecast to raise $7 million to $10 million a year. Revenue is hypothecated to fund first home buyer stamp duty relief, not to consolidated revenue. Passage into law depends on the Tasmanian Legislative Council working through the Bill on its own timeline. As at 24 September 2026 no vote in the Upper House is confirmed.

Hobart's rental vacancy rate ran at 0.4% in March 2026 on SQM Research data, among the tightest of any Australian capital. That is the backdrop the Bill is targeting. Whether it lands, and at what date, is a question a Tasmanian short-stay operator should be watching each sitting week.

The ATO layer: 190,000 owners, TR 2025/D1 from 1 July 2026#

Every state framework above sits above the federal tax layer.

The ATO has approximately 190,000 short-stay and holiday-home owners flagged in its FY26 focus program. Airbnb, Stayz and Booking.com data flows into the ATO under the sharing economy reporting framework, which was extended to residential property income for its second full year in 2025-26. Cross-matching runs against land title registries, banking data and insurer policy records.

The provision that lands next is Draft Taxation Ruling TR 2025/D1, which applies from 1 July 2026. TR 2025/D1 tightens the deductibility test for holiday and leisure facility properties on three dimensions: whether the property is genuinely available for rent at arm's length rates, whether owner-use days are excluded from the deduction claim, and whether off-market discounts to family or friends are backed out of the income line.

Practical effect: if your Airbnb is priced 25% above the local market to discourage bookings and then rented to your cousin every second weekend at mates rates, the ATO's answer to your rental loss claim from 1 July 2026 is a lot narrower than it was in FY25.

The Airbnb versus long-term rental question, September 2026#

For an investor deciding whether to keep a property on Airbnb or convert to a 12-month lease, September 2026 sharpens the maths. Start with the Cotality August 2026 gross rental yield of 3.79% as the long-term-let benchmark. Layer on:

1. The state overlay. In Victoria, the 7.5% booking-fee levy reduces every dollar of gross STR income by 7.5% before the operator sees it. In Brisbane, the 65% rates surcharge lands as a fixed annual cost that scales the wrong way if occupancy drops. In WA, the register cost is administrative rather than economic. In NSW, the 180-day Sydney cap is the binding constraint on gross annual booking revenue for a non-hosted property.
2. The ATO tightening from 1 July 2026. TR 2025/D1 reduces the deduction offset that used to soften a break-even short-stay operation. A short-stay run at cost against a mostly-owner-use property loses the interest-and-depreciation shield.
3. The vacancy floor. SQM Research's national vacancy rate was 1.3% in July 2026 (SQM National Vacancy Rates), and Cotality's advertised rents grew 5.7% over the year to August. A 12-month lease locks that yield in with roughly zero platform risk, zero regulatory-change risk and zero cleaning and turnover costs.
4. The strata risk. In Victoria, a 75% owners corporation vote can shut a short-stay operation regardless of the operator's intent. In WA and NSW, council development approval is a live risk in some zones. In QLD, BUGTA-scheme by-laws can restrict STR.

The state-by-state map does not tell you Airbnb is dead. It tells you the pricing has been repriced against the long-term rental alternative every quarter since 1 January 2025, and the direction of travel is one-way.

What a landlord should do this week#

1. Confirm state registration status. For Vic, WA and NSW, log in to your platform account and cross-check the state register ID on your listing. For a Brisbane property, check the 2026-27 rates notice to confirm the surcharge coding is correct.
2. Model the two scenarios. Run the STR net yield against a 12-month lease at the Cotality August 2026 rent for your suburb using the Propkt rental yield calculator or your own spreadsheet.
3. Check your owners corporation minutes for any Victoria or NSW strata building. A vote to prohibit STR is a live risk in 2026 that changes the answer to the yield question.
4. Sit down with your tax agent before 30 June 2027 on the TR 2025/D1 impact for any holiday-home-style property with mixed rental and personal use.
5. Track state legislative movement on the Tasmanian Bill and any NSW or WA policy shift. The map is not finalised.

If your property portfolio spans two or more of these states, Propkt tracks expenses, rent, mortgage and depreciation on a property-by-property basis so the state-level costs (Vic levy remittance, WA STRA register renewal, Brisbane surcharge line on rates) sit in the right column for your accountant at tax time. The Propkt mortgage calculator runs the interest-schedule side of the same question so the whole picture (Airbnb net after levy, long-term let net after vacancy, and the mortgage repayment) is on one page rather than three.

Twenty-one months since Victoria priced the first short-stay booking, the state map is settled enough to plan against and unsettled enough that the next twelve months will move it again. Neither of those is a reason to sit on last year's assumptions.