I received a portentous email from my real estate agent yesterday

- We have a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 car bay, ground floor property coming available at 64 Spencer Ave around 23/24 December at $400.00 per week.

Why is this portentous you ask?
The unit is owned by the gentleman who owns the one I am renting. (He built and owns 124 similar units)
The one for rent is in a block of units about 100 metres down the road.
The unit is exactly the same as mine.
I am currently paying $350 a week. The rent will go up in May, and this offering shows that my rent might rise to $400 a week.
There is the possibility the empty unit might have been refurbished, hence the higher price.
I have been in this unit for 11 years and only the hot water unit has replaced.

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Lilymoon · F

That's pretty cheap compared to the rents here

Gusman · 61-69, M

@Lilymoon Cheap than the average here as well.
1 bedroom in Perth average is $630/week.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@Lilymoon That all sounds incredibly expensive. Where I live 400 AUS a week (17 000 NOK a month) would get you a 65 sq m flat with two bedrooms and a parking space.

For 630 AUS you could (27 000 NOK per month) you could get somewhere bigger even in Oslo (the capital city).

Why is it so expensive in Australia? It's not as if you are short of space.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@ninalanyon Too many immigrants coming in. Not enough places for rent. Homes are incredibly overpriced. Very greedy landlords continually raising rents.
The population rose by 446,000 immigrants 2023/24. Net gain
2022/23 it rose by 556,000. Net gain
Very pathetic to keep bringing people in, forcing Australians out of their home because greedy landlords are cashing in on the huge numbers.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@Gusman On it's own immigration doesn't explain it. The Norwegian population is almost 20% immigrants or children of immigrants and we have more than four times your population density. The population grew by nearly about 70 000 in the last year which is not a lot less in proportion to Australia's.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@ninalanyon It has a whole lot to do with it.
If there are 1 million homes available and there are 1,250,000 people looking for somewhere to live...

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@Gusman What is stopping people building more houses? Surely high rents in a market economy with a low population density should stimulate house building.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@ninalanyon Not enough tradesmen, poor planning approval rates (red tape) with government not seeming to care enough to remove obstacles.
High material costs, not enough land being released (more red tape)
This scarcity has been building for decades and both sides of politics are to blame.
Mongrels the lot of them.
Government says - How can we fix this problem? Of course, let's bring in another half a million people, they can build the houses...

Gusman · 61-69, M

@ninalanyon I forgot to mention another reason there are not enough places to live.
NIMBY, Too many residents do not want social housing, high rise buildings in their neighbourhood.
"Social Housing attracts undesirable tenants. Lowers the resale value of their homes.
High rises "overlook" my place, cast shadows.
The sad part about all this is that local governments listen to these selfish people so those much need places do not get built.