Rent freeze chatter ‘a major distraction’ ahead of national cabinet
Ahead of today’s national cabinet meeting, the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has urged the nation’s leaders “to get on with the job of housing Australians”.
According to REIA president Hayden Groves, all the talk of rent freeze and rent controls – which have already been dismissed at a federal level – “are a major distraction to the issues at hand”.
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He argues: “The current marketplace of rising rents is a direct consequence of what happens when you freeze and regulate rents, which is what the country did in the wartime settings of COVID-19 in 2020.”
“We thank the Prime Minister and Federal Minister for Housing for their steadfast commitment to no rent freezes or rent controls as a starting point.”
He is calling on the national cabinet, which is comprised of leaders across federal and state level governments, “to make decisions that increase our housing supply; and not further reduce it”.
Stressing that the pandemic is over, Mr Groves goes on to state that: “The reality is we need 106,000 new homes for Australians by next financial year, currently [we] have no new federal funding streams for social and affordable accommodation, and [we] have a rapidly shrinking rental pool.”
Calling out “the continued carry on” from Greens’ leader Adam Bandt in relation to rent controls and rent freezes, the president said that such a stance “is just hurting family investors; and builder and property developers who are putting projects on hold at the mere threat of such an absurd and half-baked idea”.
According to Mr Groves and the REIA, there are many more levers able to be pulled to assist renters, first home buyers and all stakeholders on the property ladder alike.
“Commonwealth Rent Assistance pegged to market rents is one such lever; stamp duty reform is another and making interest rates tax deductible for first home buyers to bring Australia into line with other OECD nations are all actions that can be taken to support Australians at this time,” he said.
“We need leaders to implement good policy and get on with the job of fixing housing supply in this country that supports the groups that need it the most as the cost-of-living crisis moderates.”
