Senate inquiry to be held into Aussie rental prices, availability

The extent of Australia’s rental crisis will be laid bare in a new senate inquiry, as the fight over how to address the nation’s housing shortage rages on.

“Thousands” of struggling renters will have their say in a senate inquiry secured by the Greens in their latest bid to get the government to address the rental crisis.

Days after the Greens joined forces with the Coalition to defer voting on the government’s $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund until October, giving Labor time to discuss rent controls with state and territory leaders, the minor party is claiming the inquiry as a win.

The Greens say the inquiry will investigate the affordability, supply, and availability of rental housing, with an interim report due in September, before a planned national cabinet meeting on renters rights.

The Greens are hopeful the inquiry, and the national cabinet meeting, will force Labor to bend to their demands in order to pass the HAFF. The party want the government to co-ordinate rent freezes or rent caps, while the government insists rental controls lie at the feet of state and territory governments.

The party’s housing spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather, said the inquiry would ensure that Labor “cannot ignore renters any longer”, noting that 62 per cent of renters are “already in financial stress” with predictions that could worsen.

Max Chandler-Mather said the senate inquiry would force Labor to change its tune on rent controls. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“There are millions of renters across the country staring down the barrel of another massive rent increase, and every week Labor fails to take action another family will be shoved onto the streets because of an unfair rent hike,” he said.

“The Prime Minister and Labor have a chance to take leadership at national cabinet and co-ordinate a freeze and cap on rent increases, and this rental inquiry will help lay the groundwork for that.

“Too often the voices of renters are silenced in the national debate, but for the next few months parliament will be forced to hear from thousands of renters across the country about their experience of unfair rent increases and shocking treatment at the hands of a system that treats renters like second class citizens.”

Dr Chris Martin from UNSW said research shows that the national average of asking rents has increased by 11 per cent in the last 12 months, with Sydney renters dealt the blow of median average weekly rents for new tenancies soar by 20 per cent over the past year, to $650 a week.

When properties are re-let, 95 per cent of landlords are getting a higher rent than for the previous tenancy.

Dr Martin said a rent freeze, and subsequent rent cap – as proposed by the Greens – would protect existing tenants from skyrocketing rents.

But, he conceded, rent freezes or caps would have “serious implications” for landlords and the wider economy.

Experts say while there are short term pros to rental controls, in the long term they do more harm than good. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

“While it is true that tenants who are not evicted may gain temporarily, tenants as a whole lose as rental accommodation is withdrawn, fewer new places are provided, and maintenance of rent-controlled housing deteriorates,” he said.

“Rental rates rise due to restricted supply, while landlords with sitting tenants suffer. Eventually, a black market evolves with ‘protected’ tenants unable to move and with the rampant use of sizeable ‘key money’ paid by prospective new tenants.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese brushed off Mr Chandler-Mather in Question Time on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Housing Minister Julie Collins in Question Time on Thursday quoted “experts and evidence who tell us that (a rent freeze) will make the situation worse, and it won’t work”.

“Indeed the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute said it won’t work because it will discourage new investment, so supply won’t be brought on,” she said.

“Then you have professor Graeme Samuel, the former head of the ACCC who said (the Greens) should understand the fundamental problem is we have a lack of supply. He went on to say the moment you put a rental cap in place, you simply just exacerbate the problem.”

She also reiterated her point that the Constitution “shows very clearly that we do not have the power to implement a rent freeze”.

“They can keep blocking it for things that are impossible. We will keep on delivering for Australians that need it most,” she said.