In a video published on McCormack Barber’s social media on Friday, director Peter McCormack said Airbnb was having “a massive impact in sale prices”.

“I looked up ‘entire houses’ in Orange and at the moment, there’s 227 homes on Airbnb,” he said. 

“A lot of those homes would have historically just been normal rentals, or have been normal rentals.”

He said rental prices were increasing due to lower supply, while 60 per cent of buyers at the moment were from Sydney and often outbidding home buyers from the region. 

Ray White Orange principal Libby Seaman said rental availability was certainly at a premium, with vacancy rates below 1 per cent. 

“I did lease two properties last week for more than we had advertised because people thought if they offered a bit more, they stood a better chance of securing the properties,” she said. 

She said Airbnb hosts could earn up to $1100 a week, compared to $350 a week on the regular housing market, but she did not believe Airbnb had a clear impact on sale prices.

“There’s a lot more buyers, they’re cashed up and Orange has a lot to offer,” she said. 

Ms Seaman said Orange home buyers should not despair, saying one had beaten a Sydney buyer at auction on the weekend, but did not expect the overall trend to change.

“Not unless everyone decides they hate Orange, which I don’t think will happen,” she said. 

She said property at the lower end of the market remained stable, but there had been up to nine per cent growth in the $450,000-$500,000 bracket in the past quarter. 

“There’s a shortage in four-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-garage properties,” she said. 

An Airbnb spokesman described housing affordability was a “wickedly complex problem”, but argued the model made housing more affordable for people trying to pay off their mortgages.

He contended typical hosts earned closer to $100 a week and there were only 180 listings in Orange.

“Hardly a fortune or king’s ransom but enough to pay help pay the mortgage or bills,” he said.

“Holding just just one per cent of the Orange housing market to blame for housing affordability issues just isn’t credible.”

He said debate needed to look at negative gearing and planning laws.