Oct 18, 2022

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Normal text size Advertisement Airbnb-style rental operators across Brisbane will face tougher artificial intelligence and big-data-aided oversight in days, under an agreement struck by the city council in its effort to deliver properties back into the private rental market. The council has confirmed that a one-year initial contract, with an option to extend, has been signed with Deckard Technologies for the platform to underpin its crackdown on the sector — one of the most significant to date nationwide. Brisbane City Council announced it would hike rates for whole properties listed on Airbnb-style platforms for more than 60 days a year in June, and was initially vague on how it would enforce the measure. Credit:Matt Dennien, Supplied The decision, which will see services from the firm start this month, comes as the state government announced details from its previously flagged review of the sector were expected to arrive this year to drive its own regulatory approach. Now, 10 years since the global short-stay rental platform launched in Australia, governments around the country are only recently moving to try to regulate the sector or understand its effect on housing availability and affordability. The country’s largest local government announced its effort in June , with 50 per cent rates hike for whole properties listed on such platforms for more than 60 days each year. It was initially vague on how it would enforce the measure. Loading This month, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner urged residents to dob in neighbours (complaints have previously far outweighed approvals ) while Labor’s council opposition and social service groups have questioned the benefits . The council will now have access to Deckard’s platform, called rentalscape, which analyses public data from major platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz, real estate listings and property records to pinpoint and track those being rented out. This ability allows governments to make regulatory decisions, promote compliance with rules and enforce them by drilling down on specific properties, the company’s website states. Advertisement Deckard was founded in 2018 by a group of four Australians, including former Qualcomm senior executive Greg Rose, with a Sydney-based engineering team comprising many other former staffers of the global tech giant . However, the delay in action and smaller scale of Australian jurisdictions led the company to focus its efforts on the United States, where it now works with almost 100 local governments. Dr Thomas Sigler, University of Queensland urban and economic geography associate professor, said short-term rental numbers in Australia had dropped to nearly half their pre-pandemic peak, to about 266,000 as of July. According to data provider AirDNA, some 51,000 of these are in Queensland, representing about 2-3 per cent of the total housing stock — slightly lower than the national portion. This is lower again in Brisbane. Loading Sigler put the lag in regulation across the country down to a “wait and see” approach by governments holding out for a trigger to move or empirical evidence of the effect on housing markets — which still largely does not exist.