Investor groups sit out housing summit as Qld government skips out invite

Announced by the State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last month, the summit looks to address the urgency around multiple housing issues in the state. 

The event brings together housing stakeholders and experts in order to create a cohesive and all-inclusive plan of action to solve the housing crisis that is forcing people to couch surf and sleep in cars, with an alarmingly increasing number of low-income households being edged out of rental markets due to the rising cost of living. 

But Ms McDougall claims that the government did not send out invitations ahead of time to the groups to represent property investors in the congregation. 

“PIPA and PICA both submitted formal requests to be invited to the housing summit a number of weeks ago so that private investors could be represented at the forum, yet there was nothing but silence from the state government until the afternoon before the summit when we got the official knock-back,” she stated. 

With the latest PIPA survey showing that investors are already feeling they have lost control of their assets, Ms McDougall said the exclusion is sending a message to the sector that they “still don’t deserve a seat at the table”. 

The latest data showed that around three in 10 or 29 per cent of investors are thinking of selling because changing tenancy laws have made it too expensive or too difficult to hold an investment property.  

Around 27 per cent of investors stated they are considering offloading their property due to changing tenancy laws that have made it too expensive or too difficult to hold an investment property, while 23 per cent said that the threat of rental freezes enforced by the government have made them hesitant about continuing to invest in real estate. 

Ms McDougall also finds the government’s oversight to be ironic, given that real estate investors “provide the majority of rental accommodation around the nation”.

Alarmingly, almost one in five — or 19 per cent of — landlords across Australia are planning to divest at least one of their properties in the next year, which translates into a potential depletion of rental market supply around the nation by 200,000 properties.

“If the percentage of investors who are considering selling winds up doing so, then we are going to see even higher rents as well as a sharp increase in homelessness — especially in Queensland, given 45 per cent of investors sold at least one dwelling there in the two years to August,” she warned. 

The PIPA executive also said that their group had been warning about a potential landlord exodus for five years now, but she criticised that concerned government offices had “repeatedly refused to listen”. 

“When we warned about the potential impact from lending restrictions on rental supply back in 2017, no one took any notice, and when we started highlighting the looming rental undersupply some two years ago, again, we were ignored as real estate zealots,” Ms McDougall said.  

“But when nearly 162,000 rental dwellings disappear in Queensland in just two years — because governments thought private investors would forever shoulder the burden of providing rental housing while being taxed and taxed some more — well, have we got news for you.”

The survey showed that the Sunshine State lost nearly 30 per cent of its rental dwellings over the 24-month period to August 2022. 

It was further revealed that two-thirds or 65 per cent of all investment dwellings that changed hands in Queensland were potentially bought by owner-occupiers — effectively removing them from the rental market. 

She warned that being left out of the talks will only further deteriorate the collaboration between the government and the sector to carve a pathway out of the crisis that is expected to only worsen in the near future. 

“It is clear that investors are sick and tired of being treated appallingly by policymakers who continually believe that they are an endless supply of revenue for their coffers,” she said. 

Meanwhile, PICA chair Ben Kingsley questioned how the state’s housing summit could achieve “meaningful outcomes” without receiving the input of people who are the main suppliers of rental housing.   

“My first question to the Queensland Premier is: With over 30 per cent of your population renting, who or which association, at this summit, is directly and specifically providing the voice and input on behalf of the one-third of the property owners, those being private rental landlords?” 

He also expressed his concern that any solution or plan of action would have a blindspot due to investors sitting out the discussion, resulting in an outcome that he opines will be devoid of meaning.