Agents accused of 'hyping up' rental crisis
Monday, 26 January 2009
Real Estate industry groups have been accused of exaggerating the rental crisis, in an effort to influence renters to move into home ownership.
Renters are being told that low interest rates and slow price growth makes it easier to enter the property market. With rental vacancies in Melbourne quoted by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria at a just 1%, other reports suggest the figure is much higher - and suggest the REIV data does not capture rental properties listed on the internet.
Social justice group Prosper Australia's Karl Fitzgerald said low auction clearance rates meant the rental market should be easing, and that the REIV data was the "last desperate call to dupe young home buyers into purchasing at the top of the market".
