2022-11-14 GC Agenda - Item 4 - Attachment 2 - Appendix 13 to Attachment 1

NOOSA SHORT STAY ACCOMMODATION ECONOMIC & SOCIAL ASSESSMENT


•   Combined with dwelling sales market data, rental market data suggests Noosa is experiencing considerable
    issues of undersupply of affordable dwellings available for residential or worker use, with considerably higher
    dwelling prices and rents than in SEQ exacerbating issues associated with rising costs of living.

•   With the existing supply of short stay accommodation, the additional take-up of latent supply within these
    premises to achieve increased occupancy, in addition to anticipated new supply from commercial
    accommodation providers, visitor demands within Noosa’s carrying capacity should be appropriately met into
    the future without the need for additional residential housing stock to be diverted.


CASE STUDY: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTRIBUTION OF SHORT STAY VS
PERMANENT RENTAL
A comparison of the economic contribution of dwellings used for short stay accommodation versus dwellings used
for long-term tenants has been undertaken across four dwelling sizes – 1 bedroom flat/ units, 2 bedroom flats/
units, 3 bedroom flats/ units/ houses, and 4 bedroom houses. On average per annum:

•   Short stay dwellings provide a contribution of between $92,000 (1 bed) and $277,000 (4 bed) in output to
    Noosa businesses per dwelling vs between $34,000 (1 bed) and $85,000 (4 bed) for permanent rentals.

•   Short stay dwellings provide a contribution of between $48,000 (1 bed) and $146,000 (4 bed) in Gross Regional
    Product (GRP) to Noosa per dwelling vs between $17,000 (1 bed) and $43,000 (4 bed) for permanent rentals.

•   Short stay dwellings provide a contribution of between 0.48 (1 bed) and 1.45 (4 bed) FTE jobs in Noosa per
    dwelling (paying between $35,000 and $106,000 in employee incomes per annum per dwelling) vs between
    0.16 (1 bed) and 0.4 (4 bed) FTE jobs for permanent rentals.

Permanent rentals are therefore estimated to provide a contribution of around one third of that of short stay
accommodation. However, there are obvious limitations to this simple comparative assessment. The analysis does
not factor in capacity for visitors to use alternative accommodation. Further, from an economic diversification and
resilience perspective, outside of accommodation spend visitors generally focus their spend on recreational
activities and retail, food, beverage and personal services thus providing limited support to sustain the other sectors
of the economy critical to a functioning and sustainable community. Permanent residents have a more diverse
spend profile across a range of sectors, in addition to providing the local labour base.

It is also important to understand the bigger picture when trying to assess the relative ‘value’ of one land use over
another. A functioning economy and community requires a base mix of land uses of differing economic values.
Some land uses have higher value contributions than others when assessed purely on economic grounds, while
others will have higher value contributions than others when assessed purely on social grounds. As such, it is
extremely difficult to produce quantitative outcomes for the social contribution made from the provision of a short
stay dwelling vs a permanent rental dwelling in Noosa.

While there may be higher economic benefits from offering short stay accommodation vs permanent rentals (noting
the contribution to the local labour pool of permanent rentals may indirectly support higher levels of local economic
activity), having too much short stay accommodation may significantly change the nature of the community by
reducing the sense of community in the local area due to the transient nature of the population. Transients are
unlikely to be committed to the local area and will therefore not want to contribute to its image or identity. They are
likely to expect the local community and businesses to treat them as guests (i.e., a ‘take’ vs ‘give’ mentality).

A permanent resident has a vested interest in contributing to the image and identity of the local area and to maintain
or enhance the local environment and community. They are likely to support local businesses and key services
outside of the hospitality sector, thereby not only being an available labour source but also providing support to a
diversity of economic sectors that enables a variety of job opportunities to be offered across the region. This
includes critical services such as health, education and community care and support.

From a land use planning perspective, all aspects of the economy and community must be considered to ensure
that both the economy and community are functioning and sustainable and achieving (or able to achieve) desired
corporate planning objectives.




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