Comment:
The economic theorists would tell you that the high rental price in Australia is fuel by the market 'supply and demand', but realists would tell you that it is also fuel predominantly by 'greed.' As more houses' owners protest the government good plans from building cheaper flats and condominiums in and near their areas - and government predominantly must obey the locals in order to secure 'votes' in the coming election.
So who will stand to lose? The people who rent the house of course, and the lower income group and Australians in general... as people will see Australia as a 'very expensive place' to live in. Hence professionals (with great skills) will head to US or UK, which have a higher earnings/salaries and cheaper rents!
(28th January 2011)
Darwin has most expensive rent
Darwin has most expensive rent
ABC January 27, 2011, 4:36 pm
A new property survey has found Darwin remains the most expensive city to rent a home or unit in Australia. The RP Data Rental Review shows on average it costs $520 a week to rent a house, and $430 to rent a unit.
It shows Canberra and Sydney are the second and third most expensive cities to rent a house in, costing an average $470 a week. The report shows rents in Australian capital cities increased by 4.2 percent last year.
RP Data senior researcher said while rent in Darwin did not increase over the December quarter or the last year, the city is still the priciest capital for tenants. "Quite expensive A either to buy property in Darwin, or B to rent. So it shows there's a bit of a shortage of supply (???) and strong demand to get into properties in Darwin at the moment," Mr Kusher said.
However the review also shows that over the December quarter, rental prices were steady. Mr Kusher said this showed there were many rent rises to come. "We are not yet seeing a strong surge in rental growth, but we certainly do expect during 2011 there will be some reasonably strong growth in the rental market," he said. Despite being the priciest capital city, rent in Darwin has not increased in the last 12 months.
"When we look at the combined capital cities we're forecasting around 7 percent rental growth for the next 12 months but I would not be surprised if Darwin came in a quite a bit lower that that," Mr Kusher said. "We're seeing that the housing market is cooling off and we're seeing that people are paying $520 a week for rent for a house.
"It's still probably fairly close in some of those Darwin suburbs - the difference between paying rent and paying mortgage." The review has also found rental prices in mining towns the most expensive in the country. Mr Kusher said tight supply was driving rental costs in mining regions.
"Outside of the capital cities if you head up to the Pilbara region you will be paying $1650 a week to rent a house up there so it is showing in that mining area it is quite expensive to secure rental accomodation," he said
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