Brisbane Airbnb's 68% Gross Premium Shrinks After Costs

The gross short-term rental premium looks attractive at 68% for a 3-bed house in Brisbane, but the picture changes once Airbnb fees, higher insurance, utilities, furnishing wear, council rates and the council's 65% short-stay surcharge come out of the top line. This article runs the after-costs numbers for both a 3-bed freestanding house and a 2-bed apartment, because the cost structures differ: apartments add body corporate fees that houses do not pay, but they also have a much lower entry price.

All figures assume self-managed short-term rental (the dashboard default) and agent-managed long-term rental, which is the standard arrangement in Australia.

3-Bed House: After All Costs, Net Yield Lands at 2.5%

A median Brisbane 3-bed house priced at about $1.29m grosses about $65,000 on Airbnb against about $39,000 as a long-term rental. The cost stack below shows how that 68% top-line premium compresses once you net out operating costs.

Airbnb Fees and Furnishing Replacement Eat Most of the House Premium

The biggest single line on the short-term side is Airbnb's host fee at 15.5% of gross, which strips about $10,000 off the top before you have paid for anything else. Other platforms charge differently and a multi-channel listing strategy can soften this, though Airbnb still drives the bulk of bookings in Brisbane.

The next two cost gaps are insurance, where short-stay landlord cover at about $4,400 runs roughly double the long-term rental policy at about $2,500, and maintenance, where the short-term figure of about $13,000 includes furnishing replacement (linen, towels, crockery, soft furnishings) on top of the same routine repairs a long-term rental incurs at about $9,100. Utilities of about $3,300 land entirely on the short-term side because the host bundles them into the nightly rate; long-term tenants pay their own electricity, gas and internet. Council rates of about $1,700 apply to both, and Brisbane City Council levies a separate 65% short-stay surcharge on rates for non-owner-occupied short-term rental properties.

2-Bed Apartment: Lower Entry Price, but Body Corporate Bites Both Sides

A median Brisbane 2-bed apartment at about $746,000 grosses about $43,000 on Airbnb against about $32,000 as a long-term rental. The apartment's body corporate fee appears in both columns because it is a property-level cost that applies regardless of how the unit is rented.

Apartment Beats House on Net Yield Despite Body Corporate Drag

The cost comparison cuts in the apartment's favor on yield maths. The 2-bed unit's entry price of about $746,000 is barely more than half the about $1.29m house price, so even with body corporate fees of about $4,800 loaded on top of every other cost line, the smaller capital base produces a higher percentage return. On the short-term rental side, the apartment delivers 2.4% net yield against the house at 2.5%; on the long-term side, 2.3% versus 1.7%.

That favors apartments on a pure yield basis, but the trade-off is real. Brisbane house prices have historically appreciated faster than apartments because land value, not the building, drives long-run growth. An investor optimising for total return (yield plus capital growth) is buying a different bet than one optimising for cash flow alone. The premium-market context here matters: Brisbane is a city where the appreciation argument is doing a lot of the heavy lifting on the houses, and the cash-flow argument is doing the heavy lifting on the apartments.

Short-Term Rental Breaks Even on Gross at 35% Occupancy

The 3-bed house only needs 35% occupancy for short-term gross revenue to match what a long-term tenant would pay, well below the Brisbane market median of 59%. Treat that figure as a floor rather than a target. It is the point at which Airbnb stops costing more than a long-term tenancy on revenue alone, before any of the operating cost differences in the tables above are settled. A realistic target for a viable short-term rental in Brisbane sits closer to the market median.

View Brisbane in the dashboard → Free preview · every bedroom count and property type

Hiring a Manager Wipes Roughly a Third Off Net Income

Both tables assume self-management. Hiring a professional short-stay manager in Brisbane typically costs around 20% of gross revenue, which on the 3-bed house adds roughly $13,000 of fees and drops the net yield from 2.5% to 1.5%. That is a real choice between time and money: self-management means handling guest messages, key handovers, cleaning coordination and review responses yourself, often eating 8 to 12 hours a week during peak season.

The long-term rental side already includes agent management at around 8% of rent, because most Australian investors use a property manager for tenancy administration, rent collection and maintenance dispatch. The dashboard treats that as the long-term rental default rather than a toggleable extra.

Suburb Medians Hide Material Variation

These figures are city medians across 129 Brisbane suburbs, and individual suburb economics differ from the median. Higher-yield suburbs like Eight Mile Plains show gross long-term yields of 5.2% on a $766,000 entry price, while premium inner-ring suburbs trade growth potential for compressed yields well below the city average. The dashboard shows the same after-cost breakdown for every Brisbane suburb at every bedroom count and property type.

Negative Gearing Often Tips the After-Tax Comparison Toward Long-Term Rental

The pre-tax tables above ignore Australia's tax treatment, which can flip the comparison for high-income investors. Negative gearing lets you offset rental property losses against your salary income, so a long-term rental that loses money on cash flow (because mortgage interest exceeds net rent) generates a tax deduction that reduces your overall tax bill. A short-term rental that runs at a profit, like the 3-bed house above, gets no such benefit because there is no loss to offset.

The benefit scales with your marginal tax rate. At the 45% bracket (income above $190,000), every $1 of rental loss saves 45 cents in tax. At the 30% bracket ($45,000 to about $135,000), it saves 30 cents. Building depreciation amplifies this further: the building depreciation allowance lets you deduct 2.5% of the building's construction cost per year over 40 years, and fixtures and fittings depreciation covers items like air conditioning, carpets and appliances on a separate schedule. Both are non-cash deductions, meaning they create paper losses that further reduce taxable income without affecting actual cash flow. The 50% capital gains tax discount applies equally to both rental strategies for properties held longer than 12 months.

The dashboard calculates your after-tax position including negative gearing and depreciation based on your income. Enter your salary to see how the tax treatment changes the short-term rental versus long-term rental comparison for your tax bracket.

Brisbane's New Permit Regime Adds Compliance Cost, Not a Night Cap

Brisbane (C) permits short-term rentals with minimal regulatory restrictions. Details: Brisbane Short Stay Accommodation Local Law commences 1 July 2026. Annual permit required for all non-owner-occupied short-term rentals (properties rented <90 consecutive days). 24/7 contact person must respond to complaints within 60 minutes. Public liability insurance and house rules required. Permit number must appear in advertisements. Penalties up to about $142,000 for non-compliance. Three-strikes permit revocation. Exemptions: hotels, serviced apartments with on-site manager, owner-occupied (home-hosted). No night cap. Higher council rates (~65% surcharge) already apply to short-term rentals properties. View official regulations

Note what is and is not in the rules above. There is no night cap, so the 330 nights modelled in the gross revenue figure is a maintenance and turnover allowance, not a regulatory ceiling. The compliance overhead (permit, 24/7 contact, public liability cover, signage in advertisements) is real but predictable, and the existing 65% council rates surcharge on short-stay properties is already baked into the rates line in the cost tables.

Data reflects market conditions as of June 2026. Read more on our data sources and market score methodology, or explore Brisbane rental data in the dashboard.

This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.