Queensland to Cap Rent Increases to Once a Year

Balconies seen at apartments in Southbank in Brisbane, Australia on Jan. 11, 2021. Jono Searle/Getty Images

Landlords will only be allowed to increase rents once a year under a proposal by the Queensland Labor government.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk made the announcement prior to the second Housing Summit on March 28, which brings the state in line with Victoria and South Australia.

“Today we’re taking action to give people who are renting a fairer go,” she wrote on Facebook. “Weekly rents are rapidly increasing—sometimes going up $200 or even $400.

“It’s not right. That’s why we’re proposing to limit rent increases to once a year rather than every six months.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks at Yeronga High School in Brisbane, Australia, on May 7, 2022. Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Currently, landlords can raise a tenant’s rent once every six months, but the premier is looking to limit that to once a year.

A bill is set to be introduced to Parliament on March 28.

Homelessness, Affordability Crisis Hits Queensland

The move comes in response to the report, “A blueprint to tackle Queensland’s housing crisis,” which laid bare the situation in Queensland’s housing market.

It found that since 2017 homelessness was up 22 percent (compared to the national average of eight percent), and the amount of affordable housing dropped from 36 to 17 percent.

Further, median rents in regional areas have skyrocketed in Gladstone (up 80 percent), Noosa (51 percent), Rockhampton (43 percent), Central Highlands (42 percent), and Bundaberg (36 percent).

While areas around the capital city Brisbane also saw substantial growth with increases in Gold Coast (33 percent), Redland (26 percent), Moreton Bay (25 percent), and Ipswich (21 percent).

“These negative trends are happening in most parts of the country but are of a higher intensity in Queensland, partly due to high rates of migration from other states and partly due to other factors such as the conversion of long-term rentals into short-term lettings through platforms like Airbnb,” said Andrew Clarke, lecturer in sociology at the University of New South Wales.

“The sheer scale of housing issues facing regional Queensland is quite alarming,” Clarke said. “There’s a lot of anecdotal chatter about a post-COVID housing crisis, but it’s glaringly apparent from our hard evidence that the regional housing problem is worse than we thought.”

The report was commissioned by the Queensland Council of Social Service.

Rent Caps Not a Long-Term Solution, Experts Say

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland has warned against a rental cap, saying it will discourage future investors—a key source of rental housing supply.

“With the Queensland property industry providing $27 billion in taxes, it’s inconceivable that this Government continually bites the hand that feeds them and provides vital shelter for their constituents,” said CEO Antonia Mercorella.

“Entertaining rent control is incredibly dangerous for the stability of Queensland’s property market, as investors are the ones doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to housing the 1.5 million Queenslanders who rent their homes.”

Graham Young, executive director of the Australian Institute of Progress, has suggested the housing crisis be resolved via a two-part solution.

“The short-term solution has to be an increase in emergency housing. People shouldn’t be forced to camp out in parks in tents because there is literally nowhere for them to rent,” he previously told The Epoch Times in an email.

Young said underutilised government facilities and buildings could be made available, including the infamous Wellcamp Quarantine Facility that the Queensland government spent $223 million to build before closing it just six months later.

“There is other government land and buildings that could be temporarily used for demountable housing or emergency accommodation,” he added. “It might even require emergency and temporary rezoning of land to allow it to be used for temporary housing.”

Young also said international immigration should be restrained as well to slow down demand—Queensland will likely need to absorb another 60,000 migrants this year.