Sydney Is Targeting the Wrong People in Its Airbnb Crackdown

Sydney’s Airbnb Crackdown: Why Banning the Right Hosts Won’t Solve the Housing Crisis

Sydney, Australia – July 2, 2026 / Cleary & Co. | Airbnb Property Management | Sydney /

Less than 2% of Sydney’s housing stock is listed on Airbnb. The real problem is the 3,000 unregistered hosts nobody is policing.

SYDNEY, NSW — As the City of Sydney Council investigates banning short-term rentals across 11 inner-city suburbs, a leading Sydney Airbnb management expert is calling out what she says is a politically convenient narrative that punishes compliant homeowners while ignoring the operators actually breaking the rules.

Krystina Cleary, Founder of Cleary & Co, one of Sydney’s most awarded short-term rental management agencies, says the conversation around Airbnb and the housing crisis is missing the point entirely.

“The percentage of Sydney’s total real estate listed on Airbnb sits somewhere between 0.9 and 1.6 percent,” says Cleary. “The Greens have jumped onto this bandwagon in an attempt to gain voters. It is a naive perspective that prime, centrally located real estate should simply be made available to everyone. It is growth economics 101: centrally located areas become more populated, they change, and they increase in value. If you are a homeowner or investor paying the mortgage month on month, year on year, doesn’t that give you the right to decide what you do with your own property?”

The Real Story: An Enforcement Gap Nobody Is Fixing

The City of Sydney’s own data reveals there are 5,454 active short-term rental listings in the LGA. Only 2,468 of those are officially registered under the NSW STRA framework, leaving more than 3,000 operating outside the law.

Cleary, who has been managing Sydney properties through multiple regulatory cycles since 2017, says the compliance gap is a systemic failure that undermines the entire framework.

“I am not clear on how rentals are bypassing the STRA registration, as this is required to list properties for stays under 90 days. Without registering you are either impacting short-term letting options or claiming to be exempt for whatever reason, and this should be picked up by the Department of Planning who are supposedly auditing this process. It is a pointless exercise to make credible providers in the industry jump through hoops, yet unscrupulous operators can bypass the system entirely.”

Rather than introducing new suburban bans, Cleary argues the more effective and fair solution is to enforce the laws that already exist.

Real Homeowners. Real Consequences.

The City of Sydney motion, moved on 28 April 2026, proposes banning non-primary-residence short-term rentals in suburbs including Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Pyrmont, Potts Point, and Chippendale, where rental vacancy rates fall below 3 percent.

Cleary says the homeowners who would be affected are not the faceless investors the policy is aimed at.

“Our clients are a diverse bunch. Some are using their asset to fund their retirement, to visit their kids and grandkids as they live elsewhere in Australia or overseas. Many are using their property income to fund their businesses, or to cover medical expenses for serious illness. Under a ban, these owners would be hamstrung into a long-term rental model that does not allow them to use their properties for personal use and which is capped in terms of income. With the current economic uncertainty, who does this actually serve? It did not work in Byron Bay, and it will not work in Sydney.”

The Future: Quality Over Quantity

Despite the regulatory uncertainty, Cleary remains optimistic about the long-term trajectory of Sydney’s short-term rental market, though not for the reasons critics might expect.

“Hopefully, and maybe somewhat optimistically, what we will see is a true five-star experience for visitors to our city. Unscrupulous hosts, poorly presented properties, and operators trying to cut corners to make a fast dollar only work in the short term. They have no long-term staying power. The Airbnb model of shorter-term home rentals is a necessary option in cities across the world, because hotels are no longer a practical option for an increasing number of travellers.”

For homeowners weighing their options amid the uncertainty, Cleary’s advice is characteristically grounded.

“It is a personal decision for the homeowner, always. We provide impartial, factual, real advice and we discuss their needs thoroughly from the outset to understand whether this is a feasible and sensible option for them.”

Key Facts

The City of Sydney passed a motion on 28 April 2026 directing its CEO to investigate STR restrictions across 11 inner suburbs
5,454 active STRA listings exist in the City of Sydney LGA; only 2,468 are officially registered
Short-term rental listings represent an estimated 0.9 to 1.6% of Sydney’s total housing stock
NSW law caps non-hosted STRs in Greater Sydney at 180 days per year; hosted properties have no cap
Bookings of 21 or more consecutive nights are exempt from the 180-day cap under current legislation
The investigation is ongoing. No ban has been implemented.

About Cleary & Co

Cleary & Co is a Sydney-based short-term rental management company founded in 2017 by Krystina Cleary, a trained interior designer and former tech industry executive. The company manages over 100 properties across Sydney’s inner suburbs including Surry Hills, Newtown, Erskineville, Chippendale, Redfern, Bondi, and Cronulla.

Cleary & Co holds Airbnb Superhost and Guest Favourite status across its entire managed portfolio, placing all client properties in the top 10% of Airbnb listings worldwide. The company has been featured in Time Out Sydney, Travel Mag, and Destination NSW.

The company offers a full range of short-term rental services including interior design and styling, professional photography, listing optimisation, dynamic pricing, guest management, and compliance advisory.

Website: www.clearyandco.com.au