From holiday hot spots to family-friendly suburbs, regional Queensland is in the grips of a rental vacancy crisis, with some suburbs seeing an almost complete collapse of supply.
‘Ludicrous’: Greens’ rental reform attempt blasted SHARE THIS ARTICLE
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland has hit back at a parliamentary proposal that would cap rental increases to once every 24 months, scrap “no grounds” evictions, ban rental bidding and restrict lessors’ rights to end tenancies.
The Private Members Bill Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation (Tenants’ Rights) & Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 was introduced into Queensland State Parliament on Wednesday, 26 May, by the Queensland Greens.
According to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ), it’s “a recycled policy position from years ago disguised as a necessary response to current tight vacancy conditions”.
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While it commended the federal government’s commitments for 2021, the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) said that budgetary measures need to go further in order to have any meaningful impact on economic recovery.
The announcement of the latest federal budget revealed several moves from the government to support property, including assistance for single parents, first home buyers, new home builders, retirees and downsizers, renovators and beneficiaries of public housing.
The REIQ has welcomed these commitments as Queensland continues to rise as a high-performing property market, with prices rising at the fastest monthly rate in over 30 years and interstate migration adding unprecedented pressure on housing stock.
This Robertson house is listed for $2.95 million Much like the rest of Brisbane, house prices in Robertson are soaring, with the median house price hitting $973,813 in the March quarter, a rise of 2.5 per cent. But the data shows that the average homeowner hangs onto their property for 19 years. Owners in the seaside hamlet of Lucinda (Townsville) and the rural locality of Buccan (Logan-Beaudesert) are also reluctant to leave, holding onto their homes for an average of 18 years, according to the data. Median house values in Lucinda sit at an affordable to $305,000, but those values have risen by 17.3 per cent over the year on the back of 15 sales.
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Billboards are now on display in Rockhampton, Gladstone, other regional towns, and Brisbane suburbs as part of the Queensland Council of Social Service’s Town of Nowhere campaign.
The campaign calls on the Federal and State governments to make “landmark investments into social housing to deal with Queensland’s housing crisis”.
There are 47,036 people on the state’s social housing register – a population greater than that of Gladstone.
QCOSS CEO Aimee McVeigh said all levels of government needed to act to solve the problem.
“Both the Commonwealth Government and the Queensland Government have a responsibility to do something urgently about the housing crisis. Supply is simply not keeping up with demand,” she said.