According to property data provider SQM Research, as Australia closed out the 2010s, the rental vacancy rate nationally was 2.8 per cent, far above the 1.3 per cent it sits at today. Even after accounting for potential issues with seasonality, the rental vacancy rate at this time in 2019 was 76.9 per cent higher than it is today. <\/p>\n
This has occurred despite the fact Australia has enjoyed the highest level of per capita dwelling completions of any major Anglosphere nation<\/a> for the 37th straight year. <\/p>\n In the US, by mid-2022, the rental vacancy rate was rising back toward pre-Covid norms and was back in the range of normal outcomes by the end of the first quarter of 2023. <\/p>\n Since the Albanese government came to power in May 2022, the divergence in rental growth between Australia and many of its Anglosphere peers has been significant. <\/p>\n In Australia, data from SQM Research reveals that asking rents have risen by 39.0 per cent since the current government came to power. <\/p>\n In second place with the next strongest rental growth is the United States, with total growth of 13.1 per cent. <\/p>\n In third, we have New Zealand, where asking rents have grown by 7.8 per cent, followed by Canada where rents are up by 7.6 per cent. <\/p>\n Story continues <\/p>\n But what if a different path was chosen by the Albanese government, one where Australian rents tracked the performance of national markets in Canada, New Zealand or the US? <\/p>\n When the government came to power in May 2022, dwelling rents at a national level were $501.70 per week. <\/p>\n As of the latest monthly report from SQM, the figure for the same metric is now $697.40 per week. <\/p>\n If Australian rents had of tracked the path of their Canadian counterparts since the election of the Albanese government, the asking rent on the median dwelling would be $157.80 per week cheaper at $539.70. <\/p>\n If they followed the path of the US, they would be $129.90 cheaper at $539.70 per week. <\/p>\n And if they followed the path taken by the rental market of New Zealand, they would be $156.50 a week cheaper at $541.0 per week. <\/p>\n While rental market outcomes vary dramatically from nation to nation, Australia stands alone atop the pile for rental price growth by a substantial margin. <\/p>\n The Albanese government has helped deliver a windfall to the nation’s property investors that has effectively offered a bailout to those hit by rising costs and rising interest rates. <\/p>\n That continues to this day, with dwelling rents up by over 8 per cent in the last 12 months, compared with flat rents in New Zealand, falling rents in Canada and 2.2 per cent rental inflation in the United States. <\/p>\n Without the 39 per cent rise in asking rents since the government first came to power, significantly more property investors would have ended up in financial difficulty and there would have been much less incentive for investors to get into the market in recent years. <\/p>\n In reality, they were delivered the largest rise in asking rents in decades since the pandemic began and a rental crisis that continues to give landlords strong leverage to continue to push up rents to this day. <\/p>\n The relationship may have now soured, but just a few months ago Anthony Albanese was the greatest friend in the Lodge that a landlord could have possibly asked for. <\/p>\n Get the latest Yahoo Finance news – follow us on Facebook<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>. <\/p>\n <\/a> Vacancy rates in Australia have stayed very low since the pandemic. \u00b7 Yahoo Finance <\/p>\n
<\/a> Australia has certainly stood out. \u00b7 Yahoo Finance The $157 per week difference <\/p>\n
<\/a> What could’ve been. \u00b7 Yahoo Finance The takeaway <\/p>\n