In the Illawarra, there are 421 properties for long-term rent listed on a real estate website.

However, when it comes to looking for a short-term rental option via the likes of AirBnB or Stayz, there are more to choose from.

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According to the AirDNA website, there are 525 properties available for short-term rental.

With the rental vacancy rate across the region sitting at 0.6 per cent, it may seem that turning a short-term rental into something longer term might be a solution.

But Wollongong MP Paul Scully said addressing the region's rental squeeze wasn't quite that easy.

"The tight rental market is a function of a range of things," Mr Scully said.

"That hasn't started with short-term rentals but has started with some longer-term issues. You've got a backlog in the order of nearly 3000 people who are waiting on social housing, so they're in the market.

"You've got general rental, you've got students coming back into Wollongong so there's a whole host of dynamics there that is contributing to it, with a supply shortage on the other side of the equation."

Mr Scully said he had heard anecdotally of some property owners holding off placing it on the rental market until after September's UCI cycling race in the hope of making some quick cash from visitors.

But he didn't believe that would be a "huge factor" in causing the tight market.

With some homes charging more than $500 a night for a short-term stay, Mr Scully suggested that if they were switched to long-term rentals would still likely be out of the price range of many people.

Stayz director of Government Affairs Eacham Curry said Bega Valley Shire Council agreed with that assessment last month when it passed its housing crisis strategy.

"Councillors were in agreement that prohibiting short-term rentals with the idea that such limitations would see properties enter the pool for longer-term rentals did not make sense," Mr Curry said.

"Even if these luxury homes were to become available for full-time renting, most of them would never be considered 'affordable' and would have little impact on the current rental market."

Airbnb Australia and New Zealand manager Susan Wheeldon said some of its properties were holiday houses also used by the owners' family and friends.

Ms Wheeldon also said that "a large proportion" of its listings were the host's own home, and were listed when they may be travelling or to "take advantage of large events in town when there is demand for accommodation - like the upcoming UCI cycling world championships in Wollongong this year".

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