Speaker 1: This is a story about renters and a rent affordability.
Speaker 1: You may recall here in wa during COVID that the
Speaker 1: government did tough in rules on landlords to make it
Speaker 1: harder to evict people during the COVID lockdowns and the
Speaker 1: COVID situation. But since that time we have had a
Speaker 1: shortage of rental accommodation. Here in Perth, you hear stories
Speaker 1: of you know, hundreds of people turning up at home
Speaker 1: opens to look at places. And now there's a report
Speaker 1: that maybe people are too worried about asking for repairs
Speaker 1: for fear they make copper rent increase or even get
Speaker 1: kicked out as seen as vexatious by the landlords. Joining
Speaker 1: me now is Cassandra Goldie AO, the ACOS CEO joins me. Now,
Speaker 1: hey Cassandra, how are you can?
Speaker 2: I well? Thanks? How are you?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, thank you? This is worrying, isn't. This is
Speaker 1: an Australia wide survey. There's a couple of things in this,
Speaker 1: but this notion of not asking for your place to
Speaker 1: be repaired is a worry.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look it is and it doesn't. Nobody wins when
Speaker 2: that's the reality for people. But we have to understand
Speaker 2: why I mean the survey, which is a national survey
Speaker 2: done by the University of New South Wales, found that,
Speaker 2: you know, seven out of ten people reported being scared
Speaker 2: to report repairs that were needed on the property because
Speaker 2: they were worried about another rent increase when they couldn't
Speaker 2: afford it, or because they're on a for example, a
Speaker 2: fixed term tendency, or worried that they might be evicted
Speaker 2: that they at least may not be extended. And so
Speaker 2: this is the reality for people. They know that they
Speaker 2: don't have a lot of marketing power, that's the sense
Speaker 2: they have. And if they can't stand that property law,
Speaker 2: then where do they go. As you say, vacancye rates
Speaker 2: are at an all time low at just one percent,
Speaker 2: and there are long queues everywhere you go to try
Speaker 2: and get another rental property. And so people you know,
Speaker 2: are not speaking up and nobody wins out of that.
Speaker 2: It's not good for the landlords either if they don't
Speaker 2: know that there are important repairs that need to be
Speaker 2: done in their property.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. And one of the other concerning things
Speaker 1: in your report is people, i mean property managers talk
Speaker 1: to each other worried about being blacklisted.
Speaker 2: Well, look this is a real fear for people because
Speaker 2: for many people, renting is the only option that you
Speaker 2: have to have a place to call home. One in
Speaker 2: three people in Australia now are renting, and we know
Speaker 2: that that's only going to increase further. I mean many
Speaker 2: other countries, renting is seen as a decent, long term
Speaker 2: solution to having a home, but Australia is unusual in
Speaker 2: this way. We have most properties that are put out
Speaker 2: on the rental market are flipped in overy five years
Speaker 2: on average. The tax rules associated with property investment encourage
Speaker 2: that kind of property investment because you're chasing the capital growth.
Speaker 2: We know that got that capital gains discount, and so
Speaker 2: most leases are very short term. They're typically twelve months.
Speaker 2: Our survey found over eighty percent of people in six
Speaker 2: term leases, and so they really feel insecure in this situation.
Speaker 2: And the thoughts of repairs that were apported we're pretty serious.
Speaker 2: I mean one in three reported pest trial problems, one
Speaker 2: in four reported leaks or flooding in their property, and
Speaker 2: one in five talked about hot water supply of being
Speaker 2: an issue. And so these are real basics here, aren't they.
Speaker 2: And as they say that, you know the person that
Speaker 2: owns the property. They don't win out of that either.
Speaker 2: Because of course, some of those kinds of repairs, if
Speaker 2: you don't get on top of them quickly, it can
Speaker 2: lead to longer term structural problems.
Speaker 1: And some of the other facts you found that nearly
Speaker 1: three quarters of people had to rendecrease in the past
Speaker 1: twelve months, and around about a third of renters would
Speaker 1: ride at the limit. There aren't they, Cassandra, They couldn't
Speaker 1: afford to go another five percent higher, they would that
Speaker 1: would really impact on.
Speaker 2: Them, You'll tip them over. I mean, this is the reality,
Speaker 2: you know that town. For most people on low and
Speaker 2: modest incomes at your biggest expense is keeping a roof
Speaker 2: over your head, followed by your energy bill. And for
Speaker 2: many people, particularly people on really low incomes like social
Speaker 2: security job seeker is just fifty six dollars per day,
Speaker 2: that's unbearable. Mostly people can't afford to rent in the
Speaker 2: private So one of our recommendations, of course is to
Speaker 2: continue to boost low income housing like social housing. It's
Speaker 2: you know, we've go only got four percent of or
Speaker 2: housing now in Australia. With social housing, the federal government
Speaker 2: has put a big boost in there, but we need
Speaker 2: to go further with that. But then when it comes
Speaker 2: to the private rental market, which of course is the
Speaker 2: big part of the picture. We want to encourage property
Speaker 2: investors into producing more supply, but it's got to be
Speaker 2: the right kind of property investment where you're really wanting
Speaker 2: long term renters. You know, you're incentivized to have somebody
Speaker 2: in there for five to ten years with a good
Speaker 2: yield on the property, rather than this notion that you're
Speaker 2: in the market to buy and sell, buy and sell
Speaker 2: because you're chasing the capital growth.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, we'll see what our listeners think. Cassandra,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for talking to our listeners here in Perth.
Speaker 1: Really appreciated.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much.