Short-Term Rental Squeeze: Sunshine Coast Locals Speak Out as Holiday Lets Reshape Their Streets

Residents across the Sunshine Coast are running out of patience. The spread of short-term rental properties through suburbs from Mooloolaba to Dicky Beach has become the region's most contested housing conversation, with community members at a series of public meetings this month demanding that Sunshine Coast Council act before another long-term rental disappears from the market.

The pressure is not accidental. Queensland's coastal population boom has collided with a national housing shortfall, and the Sunshine Coast sits at the sharp end of both trends. The region added roughly 20,000 new residents between the 2016 and 2021 censuses, and growth projections from the state government point to a population of more than 500,000 by 2041. Against that backdrop, every dwelling converted to a short-term let is a dwelling subtracted from the permanent rental pool.

Suburbs Under Pressure

The suburbs drawing the most concern are those closest to the beach and the new Maroochydore CBD, where property values have climbed steeply since construction on the greenfield city centre began in earnest. In the streets behind Alexandra Headland surf club and along Sixth Avenue in Maroochydore itself, residents say the character of their blocks has shifted, quieter mid-week, then loud with rotating groups of holiday guests on weekends. Several residents who attended a Sunshine Coast Council community engagement session on the Local Planning Scheme in late June described difficulty maintaining a sense of neighbourhood continuity when so few of their immediate neighbours live there permanently.

Community members speaking to The Daily Sunshine Coast this week pointed specifically to the Brightwater estate in Mountain Creek and the older rental stock in Nambour as zones where affordability pressure is most acute. One renter who has lived in Mountain Creek for six years said she watched three properties on her street convert to short-term lets over the past 18 months, and that comparable long-term rentals in the same pocket have risen well above $600 per week, a figure consistent with the Real Estate Institute of Queensland's most recent data showing Sunshine Coast median house rents tracking above the state average.

Sunshine Coast Council introduced a short-term accommodation local law in 2021 requiring hosts to register their properties and meet basic amenity standards. But community members argue the registration requirement has not translated into meaningful enforcement, and that the council lacks the staffing to audit compliance at scale. The council has not publicly released figures on how many registered short-term rental properties are currently operating within the local government area, and calls to the council's planning directorate seeking that data had not been returned by deadline Saturday.

What the Community Is Asking For

The asks coming from residents are specific. Attendees at the June engagement session called for a cap on the number of short-term rental days permitted per calendar year without a development approval, a model Queensland's state government has indicated it is watching, with the Housing and Homelessness Action Plan flagging short-term rental regulation as a lever worth examining further. Several residents also pointed to the Byron Bay model, where the council introduced a 60-night annual cap on non-hosted short-term lets, as a template the Sunshine Coast should consider adapting for high-pressure coastal zones.

Tourism Noosa introduced a destination management plan in 2023 that tried to balance the short-term let economy against housing supply, a process Sunshine Coast Council has not replicated at the same depth, though a housing summit is understood to be on the agenda for the third quarter of 2026.

For residents waiting on action, the calendar matters. The Maroochydore CBD's first commercial precinct stages are due to open later this year, expected to bring more workers into a housing market that is already stressed. Anyone currently searching for a long-term rental in the Sunshine Coast local government area should contact the Tenants Queensland advice line on 1300 744 263, which provides free guidance on lease rights and rental dispute resolution. Community members wanting to formally submit views on short-term rental regulation can do so through the Sunshine Coast Council's Have Your Say portal at haveyoursay.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au before the current planning scheme review closes at the end of August.