Australian households are finding it increasingly hard to keep a roof over their heads as rents continue their march upward.
The troubling state of Australia’s housing market and possible solutions will be thrashed out at a summit attended by affordable housing advocates, academics, unions, think tanks and politicians.
Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather; Construction, Forestry, Mining, Maritime and Energy Union national secretary Zach Smith; and the Australia Institute’s Lilia Anderson are due to appear at Sunday’s event.
The National Housing Justice Summit comes as new CoreLogic rental data shows national dwelling values ballooning by more than 30 per cent since July 2020.
The average renter now has to find nearly $140 extra a week compared with mid-2020.
Stretched tenants also appear to have reached an affordability ceiling, with the pace of rental price growth stalling during the past three months even as the number of available properties on the market shrinks to record lows.
Australia also has an undersupply of social and affordable housing for the growing number of renters struggling in the private market.
The nation needs about 640,000 social homes to cover the shortfall, according to national housing campaign Everybody’s Home, with 25,000 new dwellings needed to be built each year to keep up with demand.
Governments have all been making moves to ease pressure on the housing market.
At the federal level, the $10 billion housing future fund has been legislated, which will help fund the development of new social and affordable housing.
There’s also the national housing accord, which brings together all levels of government, investors and the construction sector to map out a plan to build one million well-located homes over five years from 2024.
Source : TheCanberraTimes