Rent control is not a solution to the current rental crisis, according to a leading academic.
Professor with the school of banking and finance at UNSW, Peter Swan, says rents are high and vacancy rates are low and the increased international migration numbers this year are set to make it even worse
He says not surprisingly, the Greens have come up with an “exceedingly anti-market solution” to the problem – rent control.
“They propose a two-year rent freeze and action to stop ‘ruthless landlords, dodgy real estate agents and big investors’ to boot tenants out for no good reason,” he says.
Professor Swan says State Governments are also threatening the same, but history shows it won’t fix the issues.
He says rent freezes, mean many “mum and dad” landlords have no option but to sell their properties, putting evicted tenants back into a tighter rental market.
Analysis of rent control in San Francisco shows it resulted in a 15% reduction in rental supply.
