Vacancy rates are reducing, which means increased demand and reduced supply. Peter Esho is the co-founder of real estate investment platform Wealthi. He says the problems for people seeking housing are compounded by problems with construction.
“We’ve got a labour market that’s near capacity which makes it very difficult to construct multi-level housing. We’ve also got building supplies that are not going up in price but are actually very, very rare. It’s very hard to get supplies in the current market.”
Adding to the already strained conditions, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has found discrimination in the private rental sector in areas such as age, gender, sexuality and ethnicity.
Associate Professor Dallas Rogers of the University of Sydney is an Urban Geographer. He says the last of those factors is particularly prevalent.
“We see a fair bit of discrimination with new migrants and refugees. We see a fair bit of discrimination with ethnic minority groups and indeed Aboriginal people as well have a fair bit of discrimination literally when they go to a real estate agent and try to get a property.”
