A rental squeeze in the property market has underlined a tough year for tenants, a trend which could continue into the start of next year.
Logan rent priced have increased for the last five consecutive quarters, making it the longest period of rent increases in 14 years, according to data by a national property marketplace.
Domain’s September 2021 rental report found that residents are forking out hundreds of dollars extra per year in the region, with median home rent prices increasing 2.2 per cent in the last quarter.
Annually, increases have occurred across the whole Logan catchment, with Springwood and Rochedale South topping the charts with 10.8 per cent and 8.7 per cent, respectively.
Suburbs that have typically been more affordable for low-income earners have also grown. For example, Browns Plains has risen by 2.9 per cent and Woodridge by 3.3 per cent, putting the total cost of monthly rent above $300 for both areas.
Ingenia Communities Group is paving the way for affordable housing in Logan, with their low-cost villages in Chambers Flat and Eight Mile Plains.
The villages provide low-cost caravan setups through to small, detached dwelling.
“There are long waiting lists for social housing, and that’s years away for some of our residents,” Ingenia portfolio manager Nicole Jentz said.
Ms Jentz said she is noticing more low-income families and blue-collar workers being priced out of the private market, so she is seeing more applicants turning to them.
“It’s just really competitive, and it’s not unusual for people to pay overs for a private rental, whereas with us, we have very fixed rental amounts,” she said.
“We generally try to work with our residents, so if someone comes into us and their budget is $250 a week, we work with our communities to house those residents.”
Housing affordability will be a highly contested ground at the federal election early next year.
Rankin member and shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers accused the Morrison government of not doing enough in this space, while Labor has committed to delivering 20,000 social houses in their first five years if they take office.
Four-thousand of those would be set aside for domestic violence victims and older women at risk of homelessness.
“Scott Morrison likes to pretend this is not a problem, and that proves how out of touch he really is,” he said.
LNP senator Amanda Stoker from the Springwood electorate hosed down Mr Chalmer’s suggestion.
“The Morrison Government is making significant inroads to support social and affordable housing,” she said.
She said the LNP have invested $9 billion this financial year, double the figure of Labor’s last $3.5 billion commitment to reduce rent through the National affordability scheme.
“Under NRAS, Australian taxpayers forked out $3.5 billion to deliver just 35,000 properties, of which about 5,000 are specialist student accommodation, that do nothing to offer low-income families affordable housing,” she said.
Labor introduced the NRAS in 2008 to make more leasing options for tenants by incentivising investors to build more rentals.
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