The Rental Crisis In Australia Has An Easy Solution

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I keep reading about the worsening shortage of rental stocks for residential housing in Australia. Economists and housing experts are queried on what we can do about it. Well, the rental crisis in Australia has an easy solution – stop bringing in so many new migrants into the country. What kind of responsible government opens the flood gates for record levels of immigration when there is nowhere for these people to live? Actually, these cashed up folk are taking the limited supply of available rentals and pushing up the prices to boot.

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Australia’s Housing Crisis Has A Short Term Fix

Australians doing it tough are being forced to live in second rate housing options because they cannot afford anything else. Some are living in tents on the fringes of our cities. Homelessness is reaching new levels across the nation. The limited savings of poorer Aussies are gone and they are living week to week. Meanwhile, the out of touch Albanese government keeps allowing in around 1, 000 new migrants per day. This is irresponsible on so many different fronts.

I am tired of hearing Jim Chalmers say that he knows many Australians are doing it tough – enough of the platitudes Jim!

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Stop Migration Into Australia Until More Houses Are Built

Stop the migration until you fix the housing crisis, please. Put a temporary halt to the influx of all these people, which is occurring at the expense of those that already live here. We know that you stave off economic recession by increasing migration into the country because these new arrivals spend plenty of money. It is another example of contrary behaviour by those in charge of the economy. On one hand the RBA is raising interest rates to dampen demand in its battle to lower inflation.

At the same time the federal government is bringing in record numbers of new migrants into the country, which increases economic productivity. It is a push pull situation and the one’s suffering are the working poor.

“Tenants are continuing to struggle with rising rents and limited supply, with new data showing the total number of rental listings has fallen to a record low.

PropTrack data shows the number of new rental listings declined 5.7% in the year to September, with the fewest new listings in September for more than a decade. The total number of rental listings fell 7.1% on the year before to hit a record low.

The national vacancy rate was also sitting at a record low of 1.1%, down from 1.3% a year earlier, the PropTrack report found. The number of inquiries for each listing rose from 24.5 a year ago to 24.8.

Limited supply and strong demand has seen rental prices increase. The national median weekly advertised rent on realestate.com.au at the end of the September 2023 quarter was $550 a week, up 3.8% over the quarter and 14.6% over the year.”

(https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/30/australian-rental-vacancy-rate-falls-to-record-low-data-shows)

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Rents Are Eating Up The Wealth Of The People

Rising interest rates are, also, having a negative impact on housing stocks for residential rental in Australia. Building more homes is a long term fix and even that has traditionally been challenging in this country. The immediate fix is to stop the flow of new migrants into the nation. The government is putting the squeeze on existing Australians and asking us to bear the load at the worst possible time. A cost of living crisis is continuing with energy prices still rising. The service sector is now whacking up its prices across the board. Rents are taking around 30% to 50% of a person’s average weekly income – it is too much. Many people can no longer afford to rent where they need to live for work. The Australian government must take responsibility for this housing crisis and act now.