Australian renters could have saved $10.7 billion over the past 12 months had a freeze been in place
The Greens are calling for a two-year rent freeze amid the continuing rental crisis.
A new analysis by the Parliamentary Library has shown that renters would have saved a total of $10.7 billion if rental payments had been frozen across Australia for the past 12 months. The analysis, commissioned by the Greens last month, found that rents had risen about 21.5% over the past 12 months. The average renter is now paying $4,896 more for their home than last year, according to a report by The Australian.
Rents rose most sharply in New South Wales, where they increased by nearly 29%. Had a rent freeze been in place, NSW tenants would have saved an average of $7,400 over the past 12 months. Victorian renters would have saved $5,200 and Queensland renters would have saved $5,100, the analysis found.
Greens proposal
The Greens are demanding that a two-year rent freeze be put on the agenda for Wednesday’s national cabinet, The Australian reported. Max Chandler-Mather, Greens spokesman for housing and homelessness, said the need for action would become more acute next year with electricity prices expected to jump by more than 50% and the cost-of-living continuing to rise.
“If the prime minister doesn’t put a national rent freeze and an end to no-grounds evictions on the table at the national cabinet meeting this week, then this will be a spectacular failure of leadership in the middle of the worst rental crisis in our recent history,” Chandler-Mather told The Australian. “The federal budget has projected that over the next two years real wages will continue to decline while rents skyrocket – and let’s be real, that will see Australia lurch into a major social crisis, unless Labor finally shows some leadership and freezes rents.”
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Chandler-Mather pointed out that states like Victoria implemented rent freezes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and said that such measures were needed again.
Data released last month by the UNSW City Futures Research Centre showed that more than 640,000 families were homeless, living in overcrowded homes or spending more than 30% of their income to meet rent or mortgage payments, The Australian reported.
Industry opposition
The Greens have been pushing the idea of a rental freeze for months. However, the proposal has met stiff opposition from property industry groups. In August, the Real Estate Institute of Australia said the plan “lacks a fundamental understanding on the key issues that will help Australian renters.”
REIA president Hayden Groves said at the time that the government should concentrate on increasing supply rather than freezing rents.
“Dealing with supply in a real way over far-fetched and unrealistic proposals about national rent control will alleviate pressures on renters,” he said. “Australia’s state and federal governments need to focus on encouraging supply and investment in private property markets, as without more houses and more investors, supply issues will continue to worsen.”
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