Reporter: David Mark
New figures released by the Real Estate Institute of Australia show the number of vacant rental properties is at an all-time low across Australia and will only get worse. How things quickly change. It was only a few years ago that real estate agents were offering inducements to renters, including free appliances and rent-free periods. Now landlords hold all the aces.

TONY BRASIER: Well, we've heard anecdotal evidence about people lining up and putting in an application to rent a property and ending up more or less going into a tender auction to situation to get the property, in other words paying... people offering rent above what is being asked to go into the property.

So it's getting very competitive out there and there's no, really, opportunity for that to change at least for the next six to 12 months, I would say.

DAVID MARK: The vacancy rate in Australia's largest cities varies from 1.4 per cent in Perth to two per cent in Sydney. That's down from well over four per cent at the height of the housing boom. 

TONY BRASIER: It is at an all-time low. And, I guess coupled with that is we have seen falls in vacancy rates in all capital cities over the last 18 months. So in some locations they've fallen from well over four per cent to well under two per cent, so there's quite a critical shortage looming.

I think when they've got confidence that interest rates aren't going to go up, and there is talk about another interest rate rise, possibly in the second half of this year, and when they're confident that vacancies that are a certain rate and rents have grown, that they've got confidence to invest.

Now, that might take anywhere from six months, I'd say, at the earliest to probably more like 12 or 18 months at least.  

DAVID MARK: In the meantime, how much worse is it going to get for people who are looking to rent accommodation?

TONY BRASIER: Oh, it's going to get worse. No doubt about it. And rents will climb. And I think... I think what we'll see growth in rent quite significantly over the next six or 12 months.

DAVID MARK: The current rental shortage points to a longer term housing affordability crisis in Australia, according to Mary Perkins, the Executive Officer of housing advocacy group, Shelter New South Wales. She says that for many people the great Australian dream of home ownership is no longer an option.

MARY PERKINS: In our history, basically your private rent accommodation has been regarded as like a transitory form of accommodation. So people stay there while they're saving for the deposit for home ownership, or they stay there while they're waiting to get into public housing, which would then provide them with long-term secure housing.

Now that being difficult at both ends of the spectrum, we've got this demand for people looking for long-term accommodation in the private rental market, and a, you know, a market that hasn't really been working to provide that sort of accommodation.

DAVID MARK: So renting is no longer a transitory option, it's a permanent option?

MARY PERKINS: For many people it is. And that's starting to show in the figures, with lots and lots of... a big increase in the numbers of tenants who have been in the private rental market for longer and longer periods of time.

Dino - We have always acknowledged that we may be the last generation to invest in rental properties, the rest of Australia will watch the property price increase until they are out of reach for them to get into.

We must all understand and accept that we only have limited amount of time to do something, and the right time to do it is NOW, not tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes. I find the only reason people do not move ahead is only because the lack of information they have at hand.

Once I sit with a client and fully explained how I guide them right from the start to finish and go through the positives and negatives on rental Property Investments, plus how it can help or support them later in life, they wonder why they didn't take that step many years ago.

Free Call
If you agree with what I am saying and you would like to book yourself in for a free one on one call with myself, please go to the link below and book yourself in and I will call you in the next couple of days. www.npis.com.au/investment-property-freecall.html

Free Consultation (One On One).
As I travel around Australia every 3-4 weeks seeing existing and new clients and if you would prefer to meet with me face to face over a coffee, please go to the link below to book yourself in, I cannot guarantee that I may have time to see you but book early to avoid disappointment.
www.npis.com.au/investment-property-meeting.html

Kind Regards

Mr. Dino F. Livanidis
0418-872280
dino@npis.com.au
www.npis.com.au