National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) being wound up in midst of rental crisis

SA will lose huge swathes of affordable rentals with the winding up of a scheme that kept rents 20 per cent below market value. Search our interactive to compare your suburb.

New data shows which Adelaide suburbs will loose huge swathes of affordable housing as the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) is progressively wound up.

The scheme enabled landlords to charge 20 per cent below market value for affordable housing for up to 10 years.

More than 1100 houses, apartments, units and townhouses in SA have been removed from the federally-funded scheme over the past four years, leaving landlords free to charge market rates or sell their properties.

Another 2513 properties will be cut by 2026 – comprising of 386 this year, 806 in 2023, 1079 in 2024, 240 in 2025 and two in 2026.

While 664 are owned by charities and not-for-profit social housing providers, 1849 belong to private individuals, investors or companies.

The 2513 South Australian properties remaining on the NRAS consist of 615 apartments, 1292 houses, 37 studios and 569 apartments.

Housing experts fear some landlords will present tenants with the option of either paying at least 20 per cent more than their existing rent or face eviction when subsidies end.

Many of the properties also are being sold as the subsidies are cut off, removing them from the rental market.

This was adding further pressure on a housing market already unable to meet demand for rental properties, especially for low to medium income earners.

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Shelter SA executive director Dr Alice Clark said rents cannot be increased while properties remained on the NRAS.

However, fixed-term leases legally did not have to be renewed when the properties were removed from the scheme, resulting in rents “being put up to any amount”.

“Increases will include the missing 20 per cent and possibly an additional amount, given rents have increased so much,” she said.

Dr Clark said the state government should work with the recently-elected Labor government to reintroduce a similar scheme.

“Given nobody is building rental housing at the rate it is needed to meet demand, we hope that this is a priority policy area for the new national housing supply council,” she said.

Turner Real Estate chief executive Emma Slape said there had been “very high sale levels” as registered participants exited the NRAS program at the end of 10 years.

Ms Slape said most of the properties being sold were smaller homes, apartments and town houses located in the greater Adelaide metropolitan area.

“They are being snapped up by first-homebuyers and subsequently lost to the rental market pool,” she said.

“This, of course, is the last outcome that we need in such a tight rental market.”

Ms Slape said as the NRAS wound up, many owners “simply feel that now is the their chance to sell, especially with the strength of the sales market over the past 12 months”.