Queuing for a rental property. It’s a landlords’ market.Credit:Paul Rovere
Sydney is losing about 7000 people a year aged between 30 and 40 to the regions or interstate. Between 2016 and 2021,Sydney lost twice as many people in that age bracket as it gained (35,000 came to Sydney,but 70,000 left).
Under the rental reforms,homeowners will need a reason to end a tenancy for both periodic and fixed-term leases,such as under existing rules where the renter is at fault for damage to the property or non-payment of rent.
Other reasons include if the property is being sold or offered for sale with vacant possession or if the owner decides to move into the home.
Minns said the government had four planks in its housing policy:sweeping changes to planning laws including its transport oriented developments (which the Coalition is trying to kill off),the “largest ever” investment in public housing,the sale and development of surplus government land and rental changes.
NSW Premier Chris Minns says the housing crisis is his government’s biggest issue.Credit:Nikki Short
“Those four things together are the bedrock,and we’ll just keep coming back to them,” Minns said.
The opposition has accused Minns of pursuing a privatisation agenda through its policy of selling surplus government land for housing,but the premier said Labor had a mandate after taking the plan to the election.
A government land audit is underway,and it has identified the first of 44 sites for housing including North Eveleigh,Kellyville,Camden and Camperdown.
In the June budget,the government announced 30,000 well-located homes would be built by agencies and the private sector on sites identified through the land audit and other previously rezoned sites. It was part of a $5.1 billion commitment over the next four years to deliver 6200 additional public homes.
Despite Minns’ insistence that no grounds evictions are crucial,the policy faces major push-back from some investor groups,who told a parliamentary inquiry last month that landlords will invest elsewhere if the changes are forced upon them.
The inquiry,chaired by the Greens MP for Newtown Jenny Leong,heard from the Property Investors Council of Australia,which warned that no grounds evictions laws introduced in 2021 in Victoria “caught most property investors off guard” and “thousands” were leaving the market.
“The data reported in December quarter 2023 indicated a net loss of 11,789 rental properties in the calendar year,in the latest March quarter data that net loss of rental properties has now increased to 15,607,” the council said in a submission.
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