Welcome to our article of Housing Affordability Discussions.
These are my views about today
rental affordability.
No matter where you are
living, you need a place to live in. But today in Australia there is this affordability
problem that makes it hard to find a place to live in. Anyhow, let us see what
people say, and this is what I found on the internet about housing affordability.
They say that most Australians want housing prices to
fall, as a national campaign urges all parties to take up the reform challenge
ahead of next year's election, and I hope they do something about it.
Everybody's Home commissioned a poll by RedBridge which found 54 per
cent of Australians want house prices to decrease in the next five years, as
opposed to 21 per cent who want them to rise. Well that is what they wish
happens, but I believe that prices will keep going up, but we should look for
ways to keep the price rise under control.
And 72 per cent of renters want house prices down. I believe that prices
cannot go down, while the cost of properties keeps going up.
This report also says that two-thirds of Australians (67 per cent) say
the cost of housing is causing them stress, while a whopping 84 per cent are
worried about housing affordability for young Australians.
About seven in 10 want the government to spend more on social housing
(69 per cent) and to build, rent, and sell affordable housing to workers (67
per cent). (Will this help, I do not know.)
And 46 per cent want negative gearing tax breaks limited to one property
at a time, compared to 20 per cent who oppose the decision.
"Australia's runaway home prices are so out of reach for so many
voters that most want to see them come down," Everybody's Home
spokesperson Maiy Azize said.
Now we know what some people think, about this housing shortage, but
until now nobody has found a way how to fix this shortage. I know that we all
have our own views about this problem depending to which group of people you
belong, and we all blame the other groups for being greedy, and we want the
government to pass laws in our favour, but even that cannot help, unless
everything is balanced. So, what can be done to find this balance, between supply
and demand and affordability, is the question?
So, hereunder I am trying to suggest my own views, hoping that I can say
something useful. First, I must say that I will try to look at the problem, and
then try to balance all items if possible. The first problem is that we must
believe that we can solve this problem, if everybody works together, instead of
blaming each other. So, let us see what is happening now, in the political
world.
What is happening now.
Today politicians are unable to solve the housing problem, most of them talk
about this and that to gain a few votes, but they do not see the consequences of
their own actions. One of the main parties that talk about housing are the green
politicians, and they want to pass laws that give the tenants a lot more power
than they need and restrict the landlords to do what needs to be done to run
their business the best they can.
What the greens seem to miss out is the fact that the landlords run a
service to the community, and if you run a service, you need to make some money,
otherwise you may as well stay out of it. But running a rental business is very
hard, and there is not enough money in it, that is the main reason why there
are not enough rental properties around. So, it would be better if the
politicians thought about something that would attract more people to be
landlords, instead of punishing the landlords by putting more levies on the
properties and telling the landlords what to do, when they do not know what
they are doing themselves, because if they did, they would not say what they
are saying. You see, the entire rental market needs to be balanced, and the
duty of the politicians, is to find how this balanced economy can be achieved,
instead they blame the landlords for that, and if this continues, there will be
less landlords and therefore less properties for rent.
So, what needs to be done, we may ask?
Now what I am going to suggest here is not new, it is only the way that
rentals have been in Australia for a long time, and if the politicians do the
right things they can keep going on as they are, because in the past they have
worked.
We all know that the rental market goes up and down, because it is
driven from the affordability factor. Today everything is going up faster than
ever, and because of the price increase also the rent price must go up, if it
does not, the few landlords that are still on the market will slowly disappear,
so, the politicians must be very careful about what they want to do, because if
there are no landlords, there are not properties for rent.
Now let me say what I think could help achieve some balance in the
rental market. All governments involved must try to build lots of affordable
rentals, and rent them at cost, or at a loss. But even this cannot be enough,
it also cannot be the only thing that can be done, because they most likely can
only build huge buildings in a few places, when the rental public needs are
widespread. So, they need to keep the private rental sector working, and this
must include the small investors, since they will be able to supply single
rental properties in different places. I hope you see what I mean.
Having said that, now I can only suggest that to keep things going, all
governments must keep levies on affordable rental properties down, and at the
same time, increase rental assistance to low-income earners.
There are lots of other things that can be said, but I think I have said
the most important things.
Anyhow, while I have been writing this article, in Canberra parliament
the government is trying to pass a law, that would help some people to own or
rent a house. But the Greens have voted it down, because they want their way. We
wonder if this happening may trigger a double dissolution of parliament and
have an earlier election. So, there you are the Greens have struck again, even
if they are a minor party, they want to be heard. But I believe that it could
have been better, if they try to cooperate with their Labor party friends.
I hope that somebody takes note of what I have said, otherwise I have
wasted my time. See you next time.
To see more click on this link, Housing Affordability Discussions.
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