REIA CALLS TO END RENT MORATORIUM

The COVID-19 period has put financial pressures on the rental market causing tenants to experience financial hardship. These pressures are easing off and Australia's real estate body has asked for the rental eviction moratorium to be lifted.

Real Estate Institute of Australia’s president, Adrian Kelly calls for some form of normality by removing the rental eviction moratoriums. “It was the right decision at the time by our nations’ leader and made a critical role in Australia’s COVID-19 line of defence” he stated.

“The policy is no longer needed as the unemployment rate dropped to 6.6%” he argued. To further his claim, the percentage of COVID-19 impacted tenants is now less than 5% in major regions and even 1% in outer areas.

Queensland and the Northern Territory are the only states to lift the eviction moratorium, with all others continuing to extend the period beyond expected. Queenslanders have since explained the state felt minimal impact once it was lifted. Mr Kelly restated “with economies opening up, now it’s time for all the states to join”.

Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales have extended support for their tenants to the end of March 2021, whilst in the ACT it will continue until the end of April 2021.

Although there is remaining funding available in most jurisdictions for both tenants and property owners who continue to be impacted, Mr Kelly is calling for state governments to provide targeted support to both parties and use these funds strategically.

These statements from REIA come from mortgages that are paused and accumulating interest which means property owners are relying on rental payments to continue at pre-pandemic conditions. It would be sensible for moratoriums to be equally re-evaluated on a national level.

RENTS RECOVERING FROM COVID IMPACT

December 2020 quarter CPI data shows the rental market is recovering from the effects of the COVID pandemic, according to the REIA. Rents increased by 0.1% for the quarter following two-quarters of falls with a fall of 1.3% for the year, with all capital cities except Sydney showing an increase in the quarter. Sydney had no change after five consecutive quarters of falls.

The Housing Group decreased in the December quarter and the year by 0.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively. The All Groups CPI increased by 0.9% in the December quarter and also for the 2020 year. This follows a 1.6% increase in the September quarter after the June quarter recorded -1.9% – the largest fall in the 72-year history of the CPI.

The quarterly changes for the analytical series of trimmed mean and for the weighted median were 0.4% with the annual changes of 1.2% and 1.4% respectively with the trimmed mean being below 2% since December 2015.