The MetaWise blog
Practical articles for property owners deciding what to do with a property: what it could earn, what the NSW rules require, what management costs, and how short-stay compares with a long-term lease.
What an Airbnb income calculator gets right, and three things it cannot know
The nightly rate these tools give you is usually close. The yearly figure built on it assumes a calendar most Sydney properties are not permitted to run. Here is the arithmetic, using the calculator's own numbers.
Airbnb or a long-term lease? How to compare them honestly
The comparison is nearly always done wrong, in the same way, and it flatters short-stay. Here is how to do it properly for a Sydney property.
Eleven questions worth asking any Sydney short-stay manager
Written to be used against us as much as anyone else. If a manager cannot answer these plainly, that is the answer.
How much can a Sydney apartment actually earn on short-stay?
It is the first question every owner asks and the one the industry answers worst. Here is what genuinely moves the number, and the order to work it out in.
What short-stay management costs in Sydney, and what the fee should cover
Two managers quoting the same percentage can cost an owner very different amounts. The difference is never in the headline — it is in what sits outside it.
Can your strata stop you letting short-term in NSW?
A scheme is allowed to ban short-term letting in a lot that is not the owner's home. That does not make the by-law it passed valid, and twice now the Tribunal has thrown the whole thing out.
Registering a short-term rental in NSW: what an owner has to do
None of it is difficult. All of it is easy to do in the wrong order, which is how owners end up furnishing a property they cannot legally let.
Who actually rents a furnished Sydney home for one to six months
The quiet half of short-stay. Longer bookings, fewer turnovers, demand that does not care whether it is January or June — and in Greater Sydney, nights that sit outside the cap.
What it actually costs to set up a Sydney short-stay property
Setup is the one cost an owner pays before any income exists, which is exactly why it deserves a written number rather than a shrug.
Can you Airbnb a property you rent in NSW?
It is asked far more often than it is answered properly, usually by someone who has already taken the first booking.
The 180-day cap, and how to plan a year around it
Owners treat the cap as a ceiling on income. It is really a constraint on which nights you sell, and that is a much better problem.
The negative gearing and CGT changes, and who they actually affect
Most of the coverage has been about the announcement. The part that decides whether it affects you is the date you bought.
The NSW rental rules that changed, and what they change for a landlord
Most of these are already in force. The one that changes day-to-day management is needing a reason, and a document, before a tenancy ends.
The cash rate is 4.60%. What that does and does not mean for your rent
A quarter-point on a million-dollar loan is about $164 a month. The rules that govern when you can move the rent, and by how much, are a separate question — and the gap between the two is where owners get into trouble.
Why Australians book short-term rentals when life gets hard
Work, repairs, bushfires, moving house and family violence: Griffith University research shows how many short-term stays have nothing to do with a holiday, and why a home works better than a hotel room in a crisis.