Rental income versus inflation balance
Despite rental price increases and a supply squeeze creating a new class of homelessness, new industry research has found rents have grown at only half the rate of inflation for more than a decade – even after allowing for the past year’s rent increases and the current inflation spikes.
The new research jointly undertaken by The Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) and the Property Investors Council of Australia (PICA) is echoed by Direct Collective CEO and Sunshine Coast property data expert Mal Cayley.
The joint research examining capital cities and using the Australian Bureau of Statistics Consumer Price Index from June 2012 to June 2022 – by property academic, Peter Koulizos, found that rents increased by just 11 per cent nationally over the decade, but inflation rose by 25.6 per cent over the same period.
Mr Koulizos said government costs and expectations had a dire effect on investors:
“As well as their cash flow taking a hit because of this income versus inflation imbalance, investors have also had to finance a huge variety of additional costs levied by all levels of government over the past decade.
“Governments deserted the supply of affordable rental properties years ago, expecting private investors to simply take over this responsibility, however more and more investors are deciding that it’s just not worth it.”
Mr Cayley explains that: “Residential property investors are predominantly individuals who are looking to improve their future because they don’t trust the government can support them in retirement.
“Tax benefits were instituted to encourage this and because the government couldn’t provide enough housing for those people who couldn’t afford to buy.
“Somewhere along the line we forgot this. At some point residential property investors became nothing more than an additional funding source for a government cash grab.”
PICA Chair Mr Ben Kingsley says that private owners of rental properties have shouldered the bulk of rental supply heavy lifting over the past two decades, while governments axed billions of dollars from public housing funding.
“These rental providers have also been pressured to carry the full financial burden of rising interest rates, new tenancy reforms, eviction moratoriums, land tax reforms, huge and costly delays in tribunal dispute hearings, and yet over the past 10 years, outside of Hobart, rents haven’t been keeping pace with inflation,” Mr Kingsley says. “The current rental crisis is the result of government inaction and market interventions. There is no question that governments, have played the biggest role in the rental supply mess – but, year after year, they expect private rental providers to simply pay more and more.
PIPA Chair Nicola McDougall said: “And let’s not forget that 71 per cent of investors own one property and 90 per cent own just two, this has always been the case, contrary to popular opinion about a plethora of mega-rich people who seemingly own dozens of properties.”
Mr Cayley says the Sunshine Coast needs 5500 rental properties today to fix the rental and rising homelessness crisis.
* https://www.reiq.com/articles/inflation-outstripping-rental-growth-research-report/
Expert opinion
“If we want more housing, we need to understand that investors aren’t ‘greedy’ they play a vital role in housing our community. Are our farmers greedy for getting paid for producing food, no we understand how hard it is for them. It’s the same with another basic need. There are always exceptions, but we must change the narrative and how we approach private property investment.”
– Mal Cayley. Direct Collective CEO
Originally published at: https://www.myweeklypreview.com.au/news/rental-income-versus-inflation-balance/