ABC 7.30 Report ran a segment on how Australia’s rental crisis is forcing tenants into group accommodation and other sub-optimal living arrangements to save on costs.
“Real estate agents say these tight markets are pushing some renters beyond the city limits or into new living arrangements”, reporters Nicole Hegarty and Courtney Bembridge said.
“The suburbs 20 kilometres from the city are getting more demand because that’s the more affordable areas for people”.
“Agent Avi Khan says extended families and friendship groups now account for one in five rental applications through his office”.
“The only choice that they have is they come together as a family unit or rental property with their housemate, their flatmate, their friends, whoever it is”.
Renters are indeed doing it tough after enduring a 40% increase in advertised rents over the past five years, according to Cotality.
The good news is that the crisis is easing somewhat, with rental vacancy rates in capital cities easing to 2.1% in September, up from a low of 1.5% a year ago:
The number of homes listed for rent has also risen by 7.4% across the combined capital cities compared to the same time last year:
Source: Cotality
Part of this easing in rental conditions reflects the moderation in net overseas migration:
Indeed, cutting NOM is the number one solution to Australia’s rental crisis.
Canada heavily restricted immigration in late 2024, which drove population growth to its lowest level since the Second World War, excluding the pandemic:
This decline in NOM has caused annual Canadian rents to fall for 24 consecutive months, saving the typical Canadian tenant just over $2,000 annually on rent:
Source: Rentals.ca
“Asking rent for all property types in Canada was $2,034 in September, down 4.2% year-over-year, the 24th consecutive month of annual decline. This represented a 9.2% drop from the peak of $2,202 in May 2024”, Rentals.ca reported.
The relationship between Canada’s population growth and rental growth is clear:
If the federal government genuinely wants to ease the rental crisis, the solution is simple: slash immigration, as Canada has done.
