|
A couple of decades ago, putting down a deposit to buy a home wasn’t an unreasonable goal for many Australians in their 20s or 30s.
Now, earning enough to pay the rent, let alone being able to find a suitable vacant property, is putting individuals and families under huge stress.
Australia’s rental vacancy rate has hit an historic low, ranging from 0.7% to 1.1%, depending on which survey you look at. This unprecedented demand has caused rents to soar.
As Ameeta Jain writes, average capital city rents climbed 7.3% in 2023, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
The dire rental situation is the latest topic in The Conversation’s series examining Australia’s housing crisis.
Demand for rentals surged after the pandemic, with people wanting more space so they could work or study from home. This demand was exacerbated by the reopening of the borders.
Added to this has been a labour and material shortage which means fewer new homes are being built.
Jain recommends the best way to provide more rentals and ease the housing crisis is to offer more apprenticeships to increase the skills pool, adopt a US-style build-to-rent program funded by corporations, and use more prefabricated housing.
It won’t solve the housing crisis but it could help bring rents down.
|
|
Margaret Easterbrook
Business Editor
|
|
Ameeta Jain, Deakin University
Australia builds only 45,000 new homes per quarter. If we really want to fix the rent crisis we’ll have to build more.
|
Ari Mattes, University of Notre Dame Australia; Alison Cole, University of Sydney; Bronwyn Carlson, Macquarie University; Harriette Richards, RMIT University; Tom Clark, Victoria University
From the red carpet to the winners and the speeches, our experts dissect the 2024 Oscars.
|
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
A government-instituted Aged Care Taskforce has recommended older Australians should pay more of the cost of their aged care, while steering clear of politically fraught options.
|
Marilyn Campbell, Queensland University of Technology; Elizabeth J Edwards, The University of Queensland
Our study suggests the evidence for banning mobile phones in schools is weak when you look at the impact on academic results, student wellbeing and cyberbullying.
|
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
The federal government is contributing $2.1 billion to a ten-year agreement between the federal government and the Northern Territory that aims to see up to 270 houses built annually in remote Indigenous communities
|
Anastasiya Byesyedina, University of Sydney
Ukrainians are safeguarding their language and cultural identity in the face of Russian attempts to erase it.
|
Maree Patsouras, La Trobe University; Cassandra Wright, Menzies School of Health Research; Emmanuel Kuntsche, La Trobe University; Gabriel Caluzzi, La Trobe University; Sandra Kuntsche, La Trobe University
Men and women often drink alcohol differently. This is especially the case for women who juggle both paid work and motherhood.
|
Duncan Ivison, University of Sydney
German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, now 94, is a thinker of global significance. What are his key ideas?
|
Alan March, The University of Melbourne
Buildings can be engineered to resist bushfires, but we can’t engineer the many aspects of human behaviour and decision-making that will still put lives at risk.
|
Cassandra Rowe, James Cook University; Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Flinders University; Michael Bird, James Cook University
Indigenous fire management shaped Australian tropical savannas over millennia, until the arrival of Europeans pushed the landscape back into a dangerous, unmanaged state.
|
Simon Lamb, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Cornel de Ronde, GNS Science
New research comparing the geology of southern Africa with the deep seafloor near New Zealand challenges conventional views of how the planet behaved when it was very young.
|
Lily Moore, The University of Melbourne
Our summer rituals and attempts to stay cool are not unique. Such traditions can be traced back thousands of years to the ancient Romans.
|
Paige Davis, University of Leeds
Some children have companions that are disobedient or even mean.
|
Diana Ibanez-Tirado, University of Sussex
The crisis in NHS dentistry is driving increasing numbers abroad for treatment. Here are some of their stories.
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Dominic O'Sullivan, Charles Sturt University
While the New Zealand government removes reference to the Treaty in the Oranga Tamariki Act, Canada and even Australia are taking steps in the opposite direction on Indigenous children’s rights.
-
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Imported hand tools, fridges, dishwashers, clothing, and menstrual and sanitary products to be cheaper from July 1.
|
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
Terry Hughes, James Cook University
The Great Barrier Reef is facing its worst summer of sustained heat stress since the mass bleaching event of 1998, but now with less time to recover amid repeated brutal conditions.
|
|
Arts + Culture
|
-
Christiane Keys-Statham, Western Sydney University
The 24th edition of the Biennale of Sydney, titled Ten Thousand Suns, is an explosion of joy and creative energy across seven venues.
-
Kirk Dodd, University of Sydney
I took my young son Heathcliff to the show, and his perspective helped me see it through a kid’s eyes.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Aeon Media Group Ltd
Melbourne VIC, Australia
•
Full Time
|
|
|
The Conversation AU
Melbourne VIC, Australia
•
Full Time
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
| |
| |
| |
Featured Events, Courses & Podcasts
|
View all
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
