Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is being warned he faces losing the next election unless the cost of living crisis is resolved – with rents surging by double-digit figures in almost every state capital city.
Rents went up by double-digit figures in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth during the past year, new SQM Research data shows.
A record 454,400 migrants moved to Australia in the year to March and renters are the ones suffering the most, including those in regional areas now facing more competition for somewhere to live.
Australia has only been able to add 175,000 new homes during the past year, as the collapse of building companies has worsened the housing shortage.
Capital city rents surged by 16.2 per cent in the year to October as the metropolitan rental vacancy rate fell to 1.1 per cent, with the crisis worsening as the government focused on the Voice referendum.
Regional areas are also tougher places for renters, with vacancy rates just as tight on the Gold Coast, the north coast of New South Wales and mining areas of northern Western Australia.
Last month, rental vacancies tightened in 77.6 per cent of Australian postcodes, meaning fewer investment properties were available for tenants.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said the rental crisis in the big cities was now spreading to regional areas, following the return of international students and skilled migrants.
Professionals who could work remotely were moving back to the regions, like they did during the Covid lockdowns.
‘Now we’re seeing, from essentially the second half of this year, regional areas in terms of the rental are tightening up once more,’ Mr Christopher told Daily Mail Australia.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is being urged to focus his energy’s on Australia’s worsening cost of living crisis as rents surge by double-digit figures in almost every state capital city
‘To me, it suggests that the rental markets are so tight in the capital cities with rents rising to levels not seen before, many tenants are looking to live back in the regions again.’
Mr Christopher said a shortfall in new housing, as builders go bust, could spark a political backlash at the next election.
‘What’s happening in the rental market is front and centre for most people and the overall cost of living crisis which is appalling,’ he said.
‘If you’re a renter, the weekly rent’s your single largest cost of living compared to food, compared to everything else.
‘If the government wants to stay in government, they’re going to need to resolve this very quickly because there will be a backlash come the next federal election.’
Michael Bayliss, an ecological economist and spokesman for Sustainable Population Australia, said the government needed to stand up to big business and cut immigration to solve the housing affordability crisis.
‘Most everyday Australians know what it takes to stop the housing unaffordability crisis and that’s taking power away from big business and property developers,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
Mr Bayliss called on the government to refocus on cost of living issues following the Voice referendum defeat.
‘It should not have been a distraction from other issues impacting everyday Australians and that may have been one of the factors that drove some Australians to vote No, if there’s a distrust towards the government,’ he said.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said the rental crisis in the big cities was now spreading to regional areas, following the return of international students and skilled migrants
A closer look at SQM Research data showed the big cities with higher rent increases were more likely to have more electorates vote No to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
In every mainland state capital city, a majority of electorates voted against the Voice and outside of inner Newcastle and Wollongong, every regional electorate voted No, with the Australian Electoral Commission revealing the referendum cost $450million – more than the $364million set aside in the Budget.
In Sydney, gentrified inner-city and wealthy beachside electorates overwhelmingly voted Yes.
But they were among just eight out of 27 in greater Sydney to support the Voice.
This occurred as 19 seats voted No, in a city where house and unit rents have surged by 17.4 per cent during the past year to $804.
Melbourne had 12 electorates vote Yes but 18 out of 30 still voted No in a city where rents have surged by 17.8 per cent during the past year to $596.
Brisbane saw three inner-city Greens electorates vote Yes but 12 out of 15 electorates voted No in a city where rents have risen by 12.3 per cent to $628.
All of Adelaide’s eight electorates voted No with rents in this city climbing by 10.3 per cent to $538 in a year.
Perth had just one electorate out of 13 vote Yes in a city where rents have surged by 18.6 per cent to $646.
Rents went up by double-digit figures in Sydney (Bondi rent queue, pictured), Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth during the past year, new data shows
In every mainland state capital city, a majority of electorates voted against the Voice (pictured are referendum signs in Sydney)
Darwin’s only federal electorate, Solomon, delivered a 65 per cent No vote in a city where rents have risen by 9.3 per cent during the past year to $594.
But in cities where rents have fallen, a majority of electorates voted Yes.
All three of Canberra’s electorates voted Yes and rents there have fallen by one per cent to $639.
In Hobart, two of its three electorates voted Yes in a city where rents have fallen by 2.3 per cent over the year to $483.
The Reserve Bank’s October meeting minutes suggested rates could go up again in November because new Governor Michele Bullock has a ‘low tolerance’ for inflation staying high for too long.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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