Rental-Insights-A-COVID-19-Collection - Flipbook - Page 40
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RENTAL INSIGHTS:
ASPIRING HOME OWNERS
ASPIRING HOME OWNERS
Heather Holst
Commissioner for
Residential Tenancies
(Victoria)
Most renters would prefer
to
own their own home
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Key findings
Why is it important?
Who is most affected?
The two most commonly
reported reasons for
renting given by tenant
households are that they
cannot afford to buy their
own home or that they
do not have enough
saved for a deposit
or down-payment.
Living in rental housing, despite a desire
for home ownership, is a persistent
issue in the Australian housing
system over the years and has many
consequences for the people involved.
In particular, it means that a growing
number of Australian households are
living without the security, privacy and
standard of housing that they need to
feel at home.
The huge upheaval caused by COVID-19
is still playing out and extra temporary
protections have been introduced
seeking to secure tenancies during this
period. Hundreds of Victorian tenants
have written to me, as Commissioner
for Residential Tenancies, about the
rental experiences that they want
improved and many have emphasised
that they don’t like the sense of living in
a place from which they can readily and
unpredictably be evicted for a range of
reasons. Such concerns are also readily
observed in the 2020 Australian Rental
Housing Conditions Survey dataset
when respondents were asked about
their intentions to move in the future:
The answers people gave when asked
about why they rent are striking for the
high number who responded that they
would rather not rent. In the main, it is
because they could not afford to buy
a home. There were a smaller number
of respondents who value the better
location and quality that they could
afford by renting or who simply prefer
to rent, and so the picture is not all
negative, but the common story is
about settling for the lesser option.
… it means that a
growing number
of Australian
households are
living without the
security, privacy
and standard of
housing that they
need to feel at home.
‘Baby on the way. Would like
a newer/safer/warmer home
that is closer to a main town’
‘… Many properties on our
street have now become Airbnb
properties. It also means it’s
harder to find somewhere new
to rent as there’s less out there
and lots of competition from
fellow long-term renters. We
have to leave here in a month
as this very property is being
renovated so it can be turned
into an Airbnb’
‘First child about to start school
next year. Want a stable home
for school’