Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Housing problems in Australia.

WELCOME TO OUR GENERAL BLOG YOU ARE INVITED. Today we are reposting some of those articles, that in a way can link to our main message about housing, where we will talk about the housing problems in Australia, the Social Security System, and the ASSETS TEST that can prevent the Social Security to be equal for everyone. And I believe that the assets test is the main problem, why today there are not enough rental properties on the market. 
This article can also be found at this link, Housing Problems in Australia, Article One. 

To read all the blogs of this selected group about rentals click on this link, http://menfranco.blogspot.com

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I belive that past politicians are to blame for today affordable rental problems, and they need to fix it. 


Some people are lucky and can have a house like this. Now, this is a beautiful house, and I have to say that this house is here just to show you a beautiful house. Very likely it has a rich owner that lives in it, and it is not for rent. But you can dream about it, and rent or buy a house that you can afford. 
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NOTE, ARTICLE No: 12. 

This article is the twelveth article of a group of articles, about Australia housing problems and its cause and remedy discussions. We are reposting some articles to show you, what we believe is the cause of the rental shortage in Australia. You see, the Australian Social Security System fails to help the farmers, because of the assets test, and fails and punishes the small rental investors, because of the ASSETS TEST, that is the only reason I can see, why today there are not enough rental properties on the market. So, to solve the housing problem, the politicians need to abolish or reset the ASSETS TEST at least to the same level or below, what people can lose from their pensions or other benefits. Also, to solve the housing problem, the politicians must find grounds to work together with the private sector, and definitely not against the private sector. But today, from what they are doing, they seem to say that the private sector is their enemy, when the private sector is only running a rental service to the community. 

Housing Problems in Australia, Article One.


Welcome to our article, Housing Problems in Australia, Article One. 

Dear readers, I want to inform you that I have followed the rental market for a long time, and I have written several articles about it, pointing out what I think is wrong with it. I have done that, hoping that someone in power takes notes of what I am saying, and does something about it, but so far nothing has happened. Anyhow, I will continue to write more article, hoping that something positive happens, so, let me go on writing. 

Today in Australia, there are less properties for rent, and this is causing problems to people that are renting. So, we want to look at the reasons why this shortage is happening, because in the past, rentals somehow found their own balance, and this problem was less acute, so to speak.  

Now, if we want to know why this is happening, the best way is to do it, is to look at how the whole country is supposed to be run, and then, when we find the reason that has caused the rental shortage, we can suggest what could be done to fix it.

I suppose that if you have had something to do in renting a property, you can already guess, what the reasons of this rental shortage are. But here we need to look at those reasons closely, to make sure that what we are saying is correct.

So, let us look at how the Australian economy is run. Australia is a free democratic country, and the economy is run freely from all individuals. Now what happens in a free economy, is that all individuals are free to do what they want, but at the same time they are competing with other individuals that do the same thing, so, the price becomes set from the supply and demand market, and those individuals that are competing to sell the product they produce.

Of course, whatever business you are in and whatever you sell, you need to make some money to be in business, if there is not enough money the business you are running cannot survive, and you are forced to close whatever you are doing. I am saying this because, this is what happens in a capitalist economy. And this is good because the economy finds its own ways how to set the price and survive. But sometimes things do not run the way they are supposed to run, and we can have problems, like the problem we are having now with rental properties, so, let us look at what is happening, because there is always a way how to improve the situation.  

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Now let us look at rental properties. 

Having said that Australia uses a capitalist system to run the economy, now let us look at what is happening in the rental market, and why today there are not enough properties for rent.

Now what I am saying hereunder is the way I remember, I remember this well because I have followed the rental market during my life, so, I remember that rents have always gone up, just like everything else. This was until the year 2010 or so, and since the year 2010 rents have not gone up as much as everything else, so, today rents need to go up, to reach the level where investors think that they can run a rental business without losing money. But the people that are renting do not see this need, and they think that they are paying too much rent already. Perhaps thy are used to cheap rentals, and now the rents are going up, so, they are complaining about it, and they say that they cannot afford to pay the rent. So, this rental problem is becoming a huge problem, and nobody seems to have a good lasting solution.

Today, some political parties want to freeze the rent, others want to put a ceiling how much the rent can be increased, the present government want to build lots of affordable rental run from the government, and many other things. The only thing they are not talking about, is why there are not enough affordable rental properties on the market. So, let me explain what the reasons are.

I start believing that the reason for this rental shortage, can be attributed to the failure of the government for not making balanced laws for rental properties, and charging the present property owners high levies.

You see, properties owners can be said that they are running a service for the community, and if you run a service, you must make some money, otherwise you are forced to close. Here we can say that this is what has been happening, and for this reason, today there are not enough rental properties on the market. We can add here that a democratic capitalist country, will always find ways how to supply, what needs to be supplied, unless there are laws that stops them earning enough money to run their business.   

Here I must say, that if the government in charge want to solve the rental problems, they must make better laws that aim to help to property owners to balance their housing business better. If they do that, then in a few years there will be enough housing on the market, and the problem is solved.

I believe that this article is becoming too long, so, to explain my point of view I will write more articles. But before I sign off, I want to say that to start improving the situation, the government of the day must make sure that the Social Security System must be equal for everyone, and they could start by abolishing the ASSETS TEST on affordable rental properties, because the assets test discriminates and scares off most small investors, that could otherwise have a property for rent. We are trying to pass this message to evryone, but nobody seems to get it. Anyhow we will continue next time with another article, Australia Housing Problems, Two. 

To see more click on this link, Housing Problems in Australia, Article One.

See you next time.  

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 NOTE. This article above, is the link to the following article, Australia housing problems two. This article is also the twelveth article of a group of articles that we want to publish. The aim of these articles is to show you that, the Australian governments can fix these existing problems, if they run a better Social Security System that fails to help those that need their help. And we believe that it must be equal for everyone. The greatest problem is created by the assets test anomalies, so, the ASSETS TEST must be abolished or adjusted, so that those anomalies are eliminated.  Because it is not fair to the pensioners, and this is one of the reasons why, there are not enough rental properties on the market, since the pensioners, are forced to sell out to receive their pension. Anyhow, here the greatest problem is the politicians that do not want to see it that way, and they make laws that would stop anybody to invest in rental properties, when they need the private sector to invest in the rental market, so, the politicians need to make laws that helps the private sector invest in rental properties. So, let me explain.  

For me there are three main things that the government can do, to come out of this rental crisis: give more rent assistance to the low income earners, abolish the assets test on affordable rental properties and low other levies, so that the small investors can keep renting at affordable price, and stop foreign ownership on rental properties, that is pushing real estate prices up, and the rental market must follow to go up, because the properties cost more. 

Some politician believe that the government should build, affordable rental units to solve this rental crisis, but for the government, to build an infinite number of affordable rental units, is not practical, because it will cost the tax payers several times more than helping the present rental set up, as we have suggested above.  

To read all the blogs of this selected group click on this link, http://menfranco.blogspot.com,

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