A Rent Freeze Could Have Saved Us All Thousands Last Year

The average renter could have saved more than $5,000 over the last year had the federal government introduced a national rent freeze, new research shows. Instead, rents have gone up more than 21 percent across the country. 

The findings were included in a batch of research from the parliamentary library, commissioned by the Greens, who want to see prime minister Anthony Albanese elevate talks over a national rent freeze, an end to no grounds evictions, and the introduction of minimum standards for rental properties to the top of the agenda when he meets with state and territory leaders later this week. 

Greens MP and spokesperson for housing and homelessness, Max Chandler-Mather, said renters have been left to shoulder a collective rent bill of about $10 billion over the last year, while property investors have scored $8.5 billion in tax handouts over the same period.

“The federal budget has projected that over the next two years real wages will continue to decline while rents skyrocket,” said Chandler-Mather. “And let’s be real, that will see Australia lurch into a major social crisis, unless Labor finally shows some leadership and freezes rents.”

The research is based on the national average rent increases reported by SQM Research over the last 12 months, and consumer price index data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics tracked between September 2021 and September this year. 

It found that renters in Sydney would’ve been best off had rents been frozen over the last 12 months, with average savings of $7,450, after rents jumped by a staggering 28.6 percent over the same period. 

In Melbourne, where rents have gone up 23.9 percent over the last year, renters could have saved $5,219, while Brisbane renters could’ve saved $5,104 after seeing their rents increase by about 24 percent over the last year. 

Reports of Australia’s rental crisis grow more stark by the day. As it stands, though, prime minister Anthony Albanese has been reluctant to consider any sort of federal intervention in the private market. 

In an interview on Monday, Albanese said he’d instead go into this week’s meeting of National Cabinet with hopes to shore up support from state and territory leaders for his plans to intervene in the energy market and introduce price caps, as Australians head into Christmas facing a cost of living crisis on all fronts. 

Just last week, the latest rental affordability index from SGS Economics found that rental affordability has fallen markedly in every capital city across the country. Hobart, for instance, continues to be the least affordable capital city in Australia for average renters, while levels of affordability in Greater Brisbane have hit historic lows, the largest fall of any capital city. 

Further still, the index also showed that symptoms of the nation’s housing crisis are surfacing in regional towns as well, thanks in large part to a pandemic-induced migration.

The catastrophic floodwaters that tore through the northern rivers of NSW earlier this year had devastating impacts on rental affordability across the region, too. Lismore, for example, saw rental affordability plummet some 10 percent over the last year. 

The Mid-North Coast town of Bellingen, where similar flooding took hold earlier this year, also saw a devastating drop of 14 percent in affordability over the same period.

As a result, National Shelter’s chief executive, Emma Greenhalgh, joined growing calls on the federal government to establish controls in the private market, like capping rent increases and boosting Commonwealth Rent Assistance. 

“Rental Increases mean individuals and families are forced to move away from family and friends, driving disconnection at the same time they are struggling to find money to pay for essentials like food, utilities and healthcare,” Greenhalgh said. 

“Key workers, including nurses and teachers, often can’t afford to live in the communities they serve.”

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