Annastacia Palaszczuk rules out Queensland rental freeze
Annastacia Palaszczuk has downplayed proposed rental caps to contain Queensland’s spiralling housing crisis after backlash from industry.
Annastacia Palaszczuk has downplayed proposed rental caps to contain Queensland’s spiralling housing crisis after an industry backlash.
The Queensland Premier on Monday revealed her government was “seriously considering” capping rapidly rising rental costs, which peak bodies and economists warned would trigger “a bloodbath” for investors.
On Wednesday, Ms Palaszczuk ruled out a “freeze”, where rents would be locked in for a set period. She said one option “on the table” would be to limit rent increases to once a year.
“What we are not talking about is a rent freeze but what we do see in other jurisdictions is rents go up every year, they don’t go up six-monthly,” she said.
“There is a lot of rental stress … don’t think for one moment that 700,000 people in the rental market are not feeling (it).
“Sometimes you have people putting up rents $200 or $400 a week, which is having a massive impact on people’s ability to … pay for essential items.”
Tenants Queensland chief Penny Carr, urged the government to replicate the Australian Capital Territory’s model, where rental increases are tied to the consumer price index but Real Estate Institute of Queensland chief Antonia Mercorella said the proposal would shatter investor confidence.
LNP Treasury spokesman David Janetzki said Ms Palaszczuk had no regard for “the uncalculated damage her chaotic leadership is having on Queenslanders who just want a secure roof over their head”.
“Rentals are already scarce and the last thing we needed was the Premier … sending huge shockwaves through the housing sector,” he said.
“Instead of focusing on shortsighted political fixes, governments must focus on increasing housing supply over the short, medium and long-term.”
It comes as new data from PropTrack suggests the spike in rental costs was attributed to lack of supply rather than increased interest rates.
“The rental vacancy rate – which measures the number of currently available rentals as a share of the total number of rental homes in Australia – is sitting at just 1.5 per cent nationally,” economist Angus Moore said.
“That’s around half what it was pre-pandemic. That means rentals are hard to find, and competition for them is fierce when they come up. ”
The ACT is the only Australian jurisdiction with rental caps limited to no more than 10 per cent above the CPI.
Ms Palaszczuk’s comments this week followed a report by the Queensland Council of Social Service, which revealed the rate of homelessness in the state had increased by 22 per cent since 2017 compared with 8 per cent nationally.
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