The real estate industry has come out swinging against rent caps in the NT
As the government continues to discuss tenancy reform, a key peak body wants a rent freeze ruled out. Read why and tell the government what you think in our poll.
Northern Territory
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The Territory’s peak real-estate body has called on the NT government to resist the call to introduce rental caps on Territory residential properties.
REINT chief executive Aswin De Silva said a rental cap would hurt investment in the rental sector and meant less rental properties would be available on the market for renters.
He has called on the NT government to not follow the lead being set in Victoria.
The government amended the Residential Tenancies Act in January 2021 and said it was looking to continue reforming tenancy laws and has not ruled out a rent cap.
A recent Core Logic report identified that NT landlords received the highest rental yields in the country at 6.41 per cent compared to Perth’s 4.87 per cent.
Mr De Silva said politicking around rental affordability was causing “further confusion” in the market and shifting focus away from housing supply, which he said was the real cause of the rental affordability crisis.
“Family investors are the backbone of the suppliers of rental homes in NT and should be protected at all times,” Mr Da Silva said.
“At a time when cost of living, inflation and interest rates are challenging, family investors are rightly worried of the talk of rent controls. We see this as having a bearing on the listings and sales data.
“Speculation of the Victorian government introducing rent controls is causing ripples in the market with 36 per cent of new property listings in Victoria being from family investors selling rental homes.
“We wouldn’t want that here in the Northern Territory as the biggest loser would be the everyday Territorians in rental properties, with increasingly less properties available for rent. This would drive rental costs even higher adding to the woes of other cost of living pressures.”
Mr De Silva said 30 per cent of Territory households were rental homes, with 27 per cent of these who are renting doing so through a private landlord.
Vacancy rates remain below 3 per cent, with a limited number of dwellings available for rent in the market.
The Territory government has left open the possibility of introducing rent caps, but a spokeswoman said there was no plan for caps to be introduced to kerb rents.
“Our government has already made amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act 1999 which commenced in January 2021,” the spokeswoman said.
“We are maintaining momentum on tenancy reform and a number of further amendments to reflect modern practices are currently under consideration.”
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