The premier previously said her government was "seriously considering" capping rental costs, but shot down the idea of a total freeze after industry backlash
Queensland’s premier has nixed the idea of a rental freeze after backlash from the property industry.
Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Monday that her government was “seriously considering” capping skyrocketing rental costs, according to a report by The Australian. However, industry bodies and economists warned that such a cap could cause a “bloodbath” for property investors.
On Wednesday, Palaszczuk shot down the idea of a complete freeze, in which rents would be locked for a specified time period. She said that one option “on the table” was to limit rent increases to once a year, according to The Australian.
“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,” the premier said. “There is a lot of 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.”
Penny Carr, chief executive of tenants’ rights organisation Tenants Queensland, pushed for the government to take a page from the ACT, where rental increases are tied to the consumer price index.
However, Real Estate Institute of Queensland CEO Antonia Mercorella said such a move would destroy investor confidence. REIQ was already on record opposing rent controls, with Mercorella calling them “a short-sighted solution to a complex problem” last month.
David Janetzki, LNP Treasury spokesman, said Palaszczuk had no regard for “the uncalculated damage her chaotic leadership is having on Queenslanders who just want a secure roof over their head.”
In a recent tweet, Janetzki said that a rental freeze would risk “deeper and longer damage to the housing crisis”.
More short-sighted political announcements to boost the Premier’s plummeting favourability amongst Queenslanders risks deeper and longer damage to the housing crisis and will hurt the most vulnerable Queenslanders and their families.
— David Janetzki MP (@DavidJanetzkiMP) March 20, 2023
The hubbub over possible rent freezes comes as new PropTrack data indicates that the spike in rental costs was due to a lack of supply rather than skyrocketing interest rates, The Australian reported.
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“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% nationally,” PropTrack economist Angus Moore told The Australian. “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 currently the only Australian jurisdiction where rent rises are capped at no more than 10% above the CPI.
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