IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v61y2024i16p3086-3109.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Supplementary rental supply? The digital market for low-cost and informal housing in Sydney, Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Zahra Nasreen

    (The University of Sydney, Australia)

  • Nicole Gurran

    (The University of Sydney, Australia)

  • Pranita Shrestha

    (The University of Sydney, Australia)

Abstract

This article examines real estate platforms and the data they generate to provide new insights into housing markets and practices, focusing on lower-cost and informal sectors, where building or rental regulations are often bypassed or contravened. We examine online listings advertised in Sydney, one of the most expensive cities in Australia and the world, compiling data from four dominant platforms – Realestate.com.au, Flatmates.com.au, Gumtree.com.au and Airbnb.com – each of which offers a particular type of rental accommodation. Using these datasets, we identify a typology of lower-cost and informal tenures and dwelling units, ranging from secondary dwellings and illegally subdivided apartments to shared accommodation and precarious rental agreements. Our study highlights a supplementary supply of rental housing, operating within the conventional private rental market, accessed and made visible via the platforms we examine. Applying a statistical regression approach, we examine relationships between concentrations of informal housing supply and socio-economic variables. The findings reveal intersections between digital platforms and evolving informal market practices and have implications for urban planning and housing policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Zahra Nasreen & Nicole Gurran & Pranita Shrestha, 2024. "Supplementary rental supply? The digital market for low-cost and informal housing in Sydney, Australia," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(16), pages 3086-3109, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:61:y:2024:i:16:p:3086-3109
    DOI: 10.1177/00420980241262227
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00420980241262227
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00420980241262227?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:61:y:2024:i:16:p:3086-3109. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.