Gold Coast short-term rental register: timeline, $100 fee and what it means for residents

Gold Coast property owners who rent out homes on platforms like Airbnb and Stayz will need to register each dwelling with the Queensland Government from July next year under reforms the State Government says will help councils track housing lost to tourism. The new Short-Term Accommodation Registration Scheme, passed in December 2025, requires all short-term rental properties statewide to be listed on a central database, with owners paying a $100 annual fee per property. For the 8,100-plus short-term rental listings currently active on the Gold Coast, the highest concentration of any Queensland local government area, according to City of Gold Coast data from November 2025, the change means a new compliance burden and, for renters, a possible shift in the local market over the next two to three years.

When residents will feel the impact

Policy analysts at the Queensland Productivity Commission, in a June 2026 report on housing supply, estimated the register will not meaningfully affect rental availability until at least mid-2028, because enforcement powers, including fines of up to $18,000 for unregistered properties, are not due to take full effect until July 2028. However, the City of Gold Coast has indicated it plans to use the register data from 2027 to craft a local planning scheme amendment, which could cap the number of nights a property can be rented short-term in residential zones. A similar cap in Byron Shire Council, introduced in 2024, reduced short-term listings by 23 per cent in the first year, according to a March 2026 report from the NSW Parliamentary Research Service. If the Gold Coast follows a comparable trajectory, residents might see more long-term rental listings flowing back into the market, but not before the end of 2028 at the earliest, local housing advocates note.

Costs, enforcement and what happens next

The $100 registration fee per property is expected to raise roughly $810,000 annually on the Gold Coast alone based on current listing numbers, though the State Government has said the revenue will go toward administering the scheme, not directly to council enforcement. Mayor Tom Tate, in a June 2026 council meeting, expressed frustration that the State has not committed to sharing registry data in real time, which could delay council action by months. The Queensland Government has budgeted $4.2 million in the 2026-27 State Budget for the register's IT platform, with a further $1.8 million for a compliance unit that will include three dedicated inspectors for South East Queensland. Local real estate agents report that some Gold Coast landlords have already begun converting short-term rentals back to long-term leases ahead of the register's launch, REIQ Gold Coast chapter chair Amanda Ryan told The Daily Gold Coast in May 2026 that inquiries about switching tenancy types had risen by 12 per cent year-on-year. Residents who live in apartment towers dominated by short-term stays, such as those in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach, may notice a gradual reduction in turnover noise and key safes on building facades by 2028, but the full effect of the registration scheme will not be felt until compliance penalties are actively enforced from mid-2028. The State Government has committed to a review of the scheme's effectiveness by December 2028.