From the CEO: 19th April 2023

The REIQ is calling out a questionable and concerning move by the State Government to treat rent control reforms separately to stage two rental reforms, without the transparent legislative process that is reasonably expected. With the second stage of rental law reforms now open for public consultation, the government has passed legislative amendments to limit rent increases to once-yearly from 1 July 2023 onwards.  Further, the transition arrangements will mean that contractually agreed rent increases that were due to commence after this date will no longer be valid unless the last rent increase was at least 12 months ago. It’s one thing to introduce rent control from a certain date onwards, but it’s a whole other proposition to retrospectively create laws that override previously agreed contractual arrangements. Find out more about this here.

The REIQ has released its March quarter 2023 residential vacancy rate report and we’re still facing obscenely tight rental conditions in Queensland. The state remains worlds away from a healthy rental market and we desperately need more rental properties. However, investors are not being encouraged to put their savings into property – on the contrary, often they’re being deterred and punished. Making investment less appealing and demonising investors is not the right solution. We should be focussed on the underlying cause of the rental crisis and increasing housing supply, including social housing. Read more about this here.

One way of potentially increasing housing investment supply is for the Queensland Government to rescind foreign investor surcharges. The REIQ has long opposed both the seven per cent surcharge applied to stamp duty introduced in October 2016, and the additional two per cent surcharge applied to land tax introduced in 2019 on Queensland property held by foreign entities. A growing population is a great thing for our economy, but in order to welcome more people and reap these benefits, we also need to be welcoming more investment in housing – particularly when it helps get new residential supply off the ground. Remember, foreign investors can only buy new property in Queensland, not established homes. Find out more here. 

Read Antonia's previous column released earlier this month.

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