Spotlight on the rental crisis
- Written by Tim McKibbin
The rental crisis is spiralling out of control.
Property investors are exiting the market in significant numbers and yet still some politicians and market commentators are floating reforms that make investing in property an even less attractive prospect.
More than just short-sighted examples of electioneering, these policies are downright damaging.
Ideas like rental freezes and no grounds evictions not only threaten to make the rental supply situation worse. They actually are making it worse.
They are driving investors out of the market. Demand for rental property is escalating at a far greater rate than supply can keep up with.
Just like the price of owner-occupied property is set by buyers in competition, so is the price of rental property set by renters in competition.
On the ground, prospective tenants in many cases are offering to pay well above the asking rent to secure a lease, knowing how narrow their options are. Obviously, agents and property managers are obliged to accept the highest offer.
It’s supply-demand 101 and yet the reality is, landlords are selling faster than investors are buying.
Policies which seek to protect tenants by imposing limitations and burdens on landlords are having the demonstrable opposite effect. Tenants are the ones losing out.
Let’s not forget that not everyone can or wants to buy a property, but everyone needs a place to live.
