An oversupply of rental properties and slow population growth has caused September rental growth to slow to an all time record low, according to CoreLogic RP Data.
At a national level, September recorded zero rental growth, failing to keep up with inflation.
Melbourne and Hobart posted slight gains of 0.3 per cent and 0.1 per cent.
Sydney was flat, while rents in Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra all fell 0.2 per cent. Struggling commodities hubs, Perth and Darwin saw rents plunge 0.8 and 1.4 per cent respectively.
The fall in rents follow data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) of a marked slow down in population growth for the March quarter. According to the ABS, population growth is now running at the slowest rate in a decade, following a 16 per cent fall in immigration rates over the year to March. Western Australia recorded a 71 per cent fall in net overseas migration in the past two years to March as job opportunities in the once booming resource sector dry up.
Slowing population growth is expected to be a challenge to the housing market as we build more homes than are actually needed.
» Rents fall across most cities in September – The ABC, 8th October 2015.
» Australian rents just grew at the slowest pace on record – Business Insider, 8th October 2015.
» Slowing population growth presents economic, housing market challenge – The ABC, 24th September 2015.
It seems reasonable to me that many recent immigrants will not stay in Australia if they are unable to find good employment to compensate for the high cost of living here.
A recession, however, will not deter asylum seekers from war torn countries. Predicting future population growth is no simple matter.
A retired couple on $650 combined cannot cover the rent on a typical one bed apartment in Sydney. There is no money left for bread butter bills health anything. Unless you are rich here you are very hungry.Is this the respect we give to the people that made this country. Life has always been hard here for the real workers. These days it is beyond unjust.
Left Australia two years ago because of lack of opportunities following cuts in mining CAPEX. Now living in NZ, my rent is the same since 2009 between Australia and NZ, 0% increase in 6 years while I actually live in a bigger house now.
Thank you landlords!
@56andoverit (comment 2.)
What have people been doing their whole life if they dont own a roof over their head? Even a demountable in a retirement village can be got for 90K or less. Real workers indeed!
Rent-seeking jerks:
http://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/in-the-zone-insider-trading-rife-in-land-rezoning-racket-20150929-gjx8nh.html
And of course, the spurious newspaper TheAge posts:
media.theage.com.au/property/domain/no-relief-for-renters-6908307.html
to offset a call to lower rents which Real Estate jerks have been pushing up annually.
I actually do hate what they’ve turned this country into. From a country that had beginnings in the Space Race and threw it in to a country of dimwits all boasting they’re millionaires (in debt only) whilst living like peasants. The puppet masters have done a good job of conning your garden-variety mum & dad morons into living off of the “wealth effect”.
No ambition but to do as little as possible whilst gaining as much as possible which produces nothing.
When this ponzi scheme goes we’re not climbing out for a long time. All the BS from financial papers fear-mongering that China has lots of capital and will throw it into Australia is just rubbish: No one backs a loser!
Sheep by houses in Australia particularly within the last couple of years. It has just been a good few years to own a house but not many have the balls to sell now but just watch when it either goes down or even just sideways for a good length of time, then you will see all the crying and whinging from these so called investment gurus. 1 mill for a shit box in Sydney…..people actually feel good for giving money away. Stay strong people, its just tulip mania, stick to your guns and don’t buckle….wait and prosper. I will certainly keep you updated with my journey. I Certainly can afford to buy even in this market however its cheaper to rent while I invest in other areas…..keep your houses for now…nothing to see here.
When rents diverge and prices of assets flat-line or decline its game over and this will trigger the start of de-leveraging. The perniciousness of debt is hard for people to understand.
Suppose someone buys a house, at a higher price than was originally paid for it. The seller can spend some of the gain. Suppose A owns a house free and clear. It is worth $200,000. B borrows that amount and buys it from A. B has the same asset that A had, but unlike him, B has a liability to match. Next, C borrows $210,000 and buys the house from B. B can spend the $10,000 gain and so on. Eventually Z borrows $1,200,000 to buy that same house Y ($200,000 to $1.2m).
At each ‘cycling’ of the house someone sells for a profit. The result is a perverse outcome. It is still the same house, but now there is far more debt associated with that asset. This process has not happened to only to this house, but across all of Australia’s property assets. Easy (cheap) debt (borrowing) rapidly inflates the price of the house upwards, into something many times its original size.
If borrowing adds to production, then it is good borrowing. However, the proceeds from borrowing across Australia have not been used to build wealth-generating capability. The proceeds have been consumed in terms of buying more property and a binge on consumer goods, holidays, boats, cars, etc.
What are you then left with? A transitory illusion of wealth as on paper the house is worth $1.2m. Nationally we have inflated asset values and a massive and hidden national liability in terms of private debt that will have to be reckoned with at some point. Meanwhile the productive part of the economy has shrunk.
While debt remains easily accessible and while there are still buyers (greater fools) our house is worth $1.2m on paper but once debt is choked off and buyers evaporate the house could only be worth what someone will pay for it ($900k) but you still have the debt of $1.2m.
The Great Wall of Money
@David C
Thanks for that link, that was an interesting preview of that four corners program that will highlight the flood (of most likely dirty) Chinese money that is flooding Australia’s property market.
It’s great that the ABC four corners program is highlighting this problem with dirty Chinese money that has priced out the local buyers, but nothing will happen ( the FIRB is a toothless tiger) as money talks and b*%#^#% walks. And I am skeptical about the Chinese government’s attempt at stopping the dirty money that is coming out if their country, as “where there is a will, there is a way”.
http://thedepression.org.au/?p=23924
So investors are lying (enabled by the banks) to get the better interest rate on their loans.
You guys are so pathetic. Our nation is built on housing and there isn’t a poly alive who wouldn’t defend and prop it up with his life. Imagine that – you’re a poly and you let 80% of your constituents assets plummet in value ha. There’s so many policies in place if things start to look bad it’s not funny. There’s an open door immigration policy. There’s a national service policy. Hell – we didn’t even do any quantitative easing. Also… Even though inflations low when the government wants to stimulate they will just agree to any union wage rises. Inflations 2% this year? Union demands 7. Government gives it to the. Pow inflation. Union gets their kickback but has to pretend like they fought for workers rights. All you small people. Clinging to the illusion of free will. None of you will ever get ahead of the game if you keep blaming someone else.
Bublobil,
You need a reality check from people who actually know what they’re talking about.
An alternative theory is that the government has no choice due to global economic conditions to let the price of housing overall crash. A big enough crash would mean that people who have saved can enter the market, and the government can buy up land and houses and provide plenty of public housing.
The government seems in no great hurry to prop up housing. People are losing jobs, the share market keeps crashing, the next budget will probably involve reductions in some social security payments. The tightening of bank lending pretty much ensures that prices for older properties can only go down.
Bublobil,
No idea….I can only shake my head at u…..another troll people….don’t encourage him please
Good friends, did you watch 4 corners tonight? It’s all over here.If only 5% of CCP members come, with their workers, Aussie is no longer Crown colony. Maybe it was all planned. We are history.
As long as Negative Gearing remains intact there will be no housing crash.
@17.
anotherone that thinks negative gearing keeps the market bullet proof…..that’s like saying a marriage can never break up because we have marriage therapists. Such stupidly….please buy another house….it amses me.
Amuses sorry
@16
Yes, I did watch that four corners program last night about the Chinese dirty money that our useless and pathetic government is allowing into our country with open arms.
What was even more sickening is how the politicians and the Chinese investors tried to justify what’s going on, by saying that “foreign investment is good for Australia”, yeah right it’s good for rich people and the rich crooks of the Chinese Communist Party .
With the mining boom all but dead, manufacturing on death row, Australia has placed its eggs all in one basket ie. property speculation and debt, which are for the most part unproductive parts of the economy. The so called “free trade agreements” Australia has foolishly signed with China will not benefit Australia at all, it will be “free trade” alright free trade for China.
Our so called elected leaders have so sold us out to China, what a bunch of treasonous traitors.
@ Bublobil (comment 12)
Lol you’re totally blue pill on many aspects of the Australian economy. Please do not comment on things you know nothing about. And what do you think the cash handouts were that Rudd gave us – Ozzie version of QE! Pollies (or polys as you call them) cannot save our economy. They had the chance to be pro-active a long time ago to mae sure things didnt get to where they are now, but they all failed and just rolled with the Ponzi inspired good times. Wake up!
@ Bublobil,
I suppose Credit Suisse, Macquarie are also pathetic simply because “our nation is built on housing”.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/housing-bust-now-the-greatest-recession-risk-say-investment-banks-20151012-gk6pjz.html
In every single nation that has had property price corrections the politicians have been powerless to stop it.
I think you’ve been reading too many of those pathetic property speculator magazines.
What Four Corners failed to mention is that the apartments that their developers are building in Oz will be sold only to wealthy mainland Chinese. The next step will be Chinese economic zones which employ only imported workers(Already exist in the US) Normally this would not be a problem except that these entities are owned by the PROC (Government) and amounts to foreign occupation. Ask any Tibetan what that’s like.
@Max D.Leverage
Good point, and I recall reading several newspaper articles which stated that several former office towers in Sydney’s CBD were purchased by some Chinese companies who plan to turn them into luxury apartments for wealthy Chinese. Our corrupt politicians have sold us out.
@ 18
I’d love to buy ‘a’ house but all the negatively geared speculators have priced me out of the market.
Average bloke…..your discount will come…
Bublobil is probably one of the whingers on TheAge all making comments blaming everyone else for Westpac’s interest rate rise. LOL.
What does that tell you about our average nufnuf’s penchant for greed but lack of foresight.
What’s more, China has all the policy in place for their Sharemarket and in the end it doesn’t matter! The system corrects itself when the can can’t be kicked any further and the younger voters start voting out governments who aren’t helping them. Then Greed is replaced by Fear and all hell breaks loose! Muahahaha, bring it on.