The impact of the pandemic on the Australian rental sector

Abstract

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Affordable private rental supply and demand: short-term disruption (2016–2021) and longer-term structural change (1996–2021)

“…The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian housing market, and specifically on the PRS, have been closely monitored and captured in extensive research to date. This research suggests that the government interventions were effective in mitigating some of the worst consequences of the pandemic, particularly via income support (Baker, Daniel et al 2022). However, the relative lack of effectiveness of the private rental support changes after temporary eviction and ban on rent increases were less effective (Martin 2021).…”

“…In many respects, the problems of 2023 regarding private rental are not new (Baker, Daniel et al 2022) but have been many years in the making, as documented in prior projects in this series: from Wulff and Yates (2001) to Hulse, Reynolds et al (2019a). Policies to address longstanding issues with renting are divided between levels of government: Australian, state/territory and local.…”

“…The policy context that supported emergency interventions on this scale was unique in Australia in peacetime but unravelled quite quickly once the threat of the public health emergency began to fade (Baker, Daniel et al 2022). Overall, it appears that the income support interventions were more effective in enabling people to remain housed compared with direct interventions into the PRS (eviction and rent increase moratoria) (Leishman, Aminpour et al 2022).…”

“…In contrast, demand increased in regional areas, which attracted households from large cities -initially to minimise health risks but, more fundamentally, to find more affordable and adequate housing than in large capital cities (NHFIC 2022a). In the Australian context, a 2022 review (Baker, Daniel et al 2022) found that, while the emergency policy interventions outlined in Section 1.2.1 of this chapter provided support to vulnerable private renters in 2020-21, the post-pandemic surge in house prices and rents meant that ongoing support was required as the problems that predated the pandemic re-emerged 'on steroids', including rapidly increasing house prices and rents, low vacancy rates and issues such as retaliatory evictions, displacement and lack of tenant rights. It has also been argued that regulators were 'reluctant' during the pandemic to make fundamental shifts in these areas (Martin, Sisson et al 2021).…”

“…However, the relative lack of effectiveness of the private rental support changes after temporary eviction and ban on rent increases were less effective (Martin 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic not only generated new challenges within the PRS that required immediate policy responses (Leishman, Aminpour et al 2022;Leishman, Ong et al 2020;Horne, Willand et al 2020), but also highlighted and amplified the many inequities in affordability and security that were entrenched prior to the pandemic (Baker, Bentley et al 2020;Baker, Daniel et al 2022;Rogers and Jacobs 2020;Verdouw, Yanotti et al 2020).…”