Residents on a street in a sought-after part of Sydney say the area has become a case study for the problems short-term letting platforms like Airbnb cause in Australian cities, as pressure mounts on authorities to introduce tighter restrictions or an outright ban. Locals argue that a growing number of properties on the street have been converted into short-term holiday lets rather than long-term rentals, worsening an already acute rental shortage and driving up housing costs for people trying to find somewhere permanent to live.

Residents and housing advocates say the situation illustrates a wider pattern across Sydney, where investors can earn more from short-term visitor stays than from renting to long-term tenants, prompting them to pull homes out of the traditional rental market. Critics quoted in the article say the trend is contributing to fewer available rental properties and higher rents in desirable suburbs, and are calling on the New South Wales government to impose stricter regulation or bans on Airbnb-style lettings to ease the housing crisis.