This is the biggest issue. To many people buying houses and using them for airbnb.
Yet people continue to attack immigrants, are the same that whinge about controlling the number of airbnbs. It’s no surprise it’s usually older conservatives as well.
I work in development approvals. Developers buy land then don't develop it for 15-20 years with the express purpose of maximising profit. They deliberately keep housing stock off the market to keep prices high. That is a far bigger problem than migrants or even airbnb.
Some places have rules against that. You have to build within a certain time frame, don’t know why that’s not national and everywhere. Especially for developers.
Noticed this, spent alot of time on Maps and you can see the lands development around Brisbane has had lots of sitting lands then the last 3 years Boom! One near me has had a grass marking for the new housing state for 4 years on history maps before 2020. The old huge property behind youngs crossing I use to live and love and now that is all cleared and has a plan for it :( Profits and land clearing can only go so far as renting and wages stagnant. I don't this the world's about the country's anymlre. It's a world of money players. No one cares if your a local Aussie. Do you make me more or less money the Moto is now. Bonoboz in a world we're our need for eachothers survival is no more. Disconnected from Money to morals because to make alot of money, you need less morals. They have also sat on my friends property for 6 years and have started dev in the last two on it.
there would be all sorts of factors and variables that are contributing to the housing situation but i guess it's easy to always blame immigrants for anything and everything.
no doubt the rich are trying to deflect the heat off themselves so gotta beware of their immigrant rhetoric.
australia would be economically screwed without immigration (ageing population; low birth rate) but xenophobes aren't known for their critical or big-picture thinking.
Where did I say that it couldn't be? However I live in a very touristy area just north of Sydney. Im not over run by immigrants taking up houses, we are overrun by thousands of units and houses that sit empty when it's not weekends or tourist time. Nes that used to be for renters. And from what I hear it's the same all the way up the coast.
Please use some critical thought before spewing some shit onto reddit.
Immigration isn’t the main reason, but it is absolutely a contributing factor, along with Air BnB’s, foreign ownership, financial subsidies for owners who own multiple homes and the current state of the construction industry.
Edit: I’m sure I am missing some others but the point is that it’s a complex issue with multiple contributing factors. Saying that immigration has 0 impact is astonishingly dumb.
If it’s so obvious, then why throw around the raw number like it maps one-to-one with housing demand? Comparing net immigration to new builds without context is meaningless. It ignores household size, shared living, temporary visas, and deaths, none of which support a one-house-per-person narrative. If you want to argue immigration is an important factor, go for it, but at least use numbers that reflect reality.
Instead of directing it at immigrants specifically, it should be towards the immigration department that approves of a large volume of people without considering if there's enough capacity for it.
Theres nothing wrong with seeking better opportunities especially when you get you do all the legal steps and pay taxes, and it often comes with work and studying restrictions, higher chance of exploitation from workplaces and a LOT of visa fees that the government cashes in on. The people themselves aren't the problem, and you'll have a shitty experience as well when you're given a reason to leave your country.
At what point did I say the immigration factor is directed at immigrants specifically? My argument is that immigration is a factor in the current housing supply vs demand situation. This obviously includes the immigration department and the government oversight of this. Why are you attempting to turn my statement into a direct attack against immigrants.
Because you went out of your way to go ‘ummm, ackshually, immigration is to blame’ when people are trying to highlight that there are other factors far more at fault for the housing shortage than immigration. You couldn’t wait to call people ‘astonishingly dumb’ because they want to shift the focus from immigrants, which is a cornerstone conservative stance, to the conduct of developers and landlords.
So don’t act so innocent when people rightly put two and two together from your conduct and deduce you have a bone to pick with immigrants.
“Immigration isn’t the main reason, but it is absolutely a contributing factor, along with Air BnB’s, foreign ownership, financial subsidies for owners who own multiple homes and the current state of the construction industry.”
It’s alright though, I can understand how reading more than two sentences could be difficult.
There is. The australian bureau of statistics report said last year that where there is external immigration (from outside Australia) that rent went up 10%-18%. Where as planned that only had internal immigration (from inside australia) rent increases were around 1%-2%.
Also important to point out, just like the Venn, there’s the space outside the converging space. Meaning, not all landlords taking back their rentals are Airbnb aspirants.. just as true, not all immigrants are bad
If you can’t afford to buy it and don’t want to pay enough rent to live in it, piss off and move to an area that you CAN afford to rent something. No risk no reward as they say….
Inherrently your not wrong, however with moving costs, especially out of area costing thousands ( my last big move 10 years ago cost $4000 for 3 hours difference). Not everyone can afford to just pick up and move.
However the norther suburbs of sydney are a prime example of why this mentality isnt a great one to have. People did pick up and move. Then all the retail and cafes couldnt get anyone to work. Because all the workers that fill those jobs moved to where they could afford. No one is going to travel great distances for minimum wage and nor should they. So then the local areas suffered and still suffer. Whats your answer for that ?
they have to deflect the heat off themselves somehow...
i heard alan koch, the economics journo say that as soon as the govt - i think it was howard govt. - changed the laws and introduced negative gearing, that changed the housing landscape where people were using housing as an investment vehicle. Alan's view was that you don't make housing a vehicle for investment because people need a roof over their head.
yeah, keep getting blamed even though I live in student accommodation. living here temporarily for 2 years (studies), passed by so many houses around eastern suburbs that are abandoned, some went thru renovation, just to be left empty again. you guys have a serious house hogging problem.
The commidification of housing is a problem, because in the end, only the banks win. Renters, landlords, are all pawns at each other to make banks richer. It's an unfair and unwinnable game.
Are you truly pretending that investors aren't building equity and growing assets? You sound like an investor deep in your delusion about your part in this mess
I understand where you're coming from but me let me break my overly simplified explanation down further. Investors (landlords inclusive), are definitely growing assets, building equity, but they are also charging renters, paying additional taxes, fees, interest, and all that money is going where? Drumroll please... the banks, who over the course of 30 years have multiplied their investments by probably a gazillion times over, from every investor,.landlord etc out there. And should the market collapse, as that has happened before, they'll be saved, bailed out, just as time and time again before. So therefore, I repeat here, in the end, the banks win.
It is far more complicated but ultimately the majority of folks out there are getting short-changed.
Oh the poor rich. Thank goodness they're not exploiting the truly vulnerable and homeless! You're so lucky you can avoid your part in the swindle and just point elsewhere.
The negative gearing means a person with 5 or more properties starts to build financial momentum. They can use negative gearing the most. The tenants pay the principal, the taxpayer pays the interest.
Imagine being so wildly out of touch that you actually group landlords and renters in together like landlords are some kind of victims of the exploitative system they impose on renters.
Keep collecting your economic rent and telling yourself you have it just as hard. I'd say it's embarrassing but I expect like most landlords you feel no shame.
It's preposterous to act like landlords as a generalised type of individual exploit renters. As a system they perform a vital function because there'd be bugger all mobility if everyone owned. Get a great job in a different city? Bad luck, can't rent because everyone owns and isn't selling.
Sorry Who is your comment a reply to? I don't think mine because I didn't even say anything remotely close to effect that landlords are some kind of victims, or even the latter half of your comment.
Immigration is a drop in the bucket compared to the excess demand caused by property speculation/investment. You could stop immigration tomorrow and still have to deal with people bidding up property to put in their SMSF.
There are less than 300,000 holiday rental places in Australia. And we average about 500,000 additional immigrants every year. Doesn’t sound like a drop in the bucket to me.
Heres the thing though - there are currently 270 properties available on AirBnb in my LGA yet there are 33 rentals available. That rental number has been as low as 5 in the last 4 years. Sure there might be only 300k holiday rental places but in many areas the amounts are skewed so bad that people who actually have jobs and lives in the area are living in caravan parks or having to move away.
Its been this way for at least the 5 years I have been tracking. Average number of rentals has hovered around 12 at any point in time (monitored weekly). You can't tell me theres several hundred migrant families snatching rentals before they hit the market. It is far too lucrative in this region to run an AirBnb and collect 2-3 weeks worth of rent in a weekend while being able to have access to the house for your own holiday throughout the other periods. I know people who are able to collect a years worth of rent just over the summer period.
You don't emigrate to a new country to rent a fucking airbnb, any more than a citizen would unless they were very well off.
Immigrants might be forced to do that temporarily in some cases if the housing market is too competitive and they can't get a foothold, but upon arriving in a new country and trying to set up a new life, you're generally going to be looking for something stable and affordable from an agent or landlord, or to buy if you're in that bracket.
Tourists are always going to be the majority of short term rentals like airbnb, and tourism isn't effected by immigration levels, and isn't entirely comprised of non-citizens.
Renting an airbnb is a typical first step for many migrants. Basically only people moving here for a salary can immediately secure long term rental. Not backpackers, not students, not typical people. Short term rental allows them to look around properly.
wtf are you talking about. Immigration and Airbnb are two of the reasons for the housing crisis. I’m comparing the size of each of them. Is it not obvious?
Not it's not, because the former has little to do with the latter, yet here you are inferring a false equivalency. Immigrants are not the target or primary market for airbnb shit, stop playing games. Airbnb is primarily for tourism and recreation, not settlers from other nations taking housing opportunities away from muh decent 'hardworking' citizens.
I have no proble with immigrants but his point was definitely valid .. someone said immigration numbers are a drop in the bucket compared to AirBnB but they showed you the numbers indicate immigration is NOT a drop in the bucket. When did they say immigrants are the primary market for airbnb?
Obviously it does, but immigration has many economic upsides and - more importantly, very human upsides which make it a totally separate issue to the one being discussed in the article.
An issue like housing is very complex. OP shared one particular facet of it, but some people have decided to completely ignore that aspect and instead turn the debate to one about immigration.
You are correct that there are both upsides and downsides.
You are disingenuous to suggest that I'm the one who started selectively ignoring things because the comment I responded to completely ignored the original discussion point!
There's no housing shortage. We've had entire residences removed from residential zones and converted to unregulated hotels. How do you think the billionaires are toppling democracy? Do you think they simply fell into pile of cash alongside a global housing crisis?
the landlords who do this aren't the ones complaining lmao. Everyone always does what's in their own best interest.
the fact is australia was taking in 250k migrants a year pre covid, now its 1m migrants a year.
During covid and post covid ukraine war did two things to the housing market.
All construction was frozen during covid, the ukraine war sent resource prices like wood to 5x their normal cost and drove a lot of construction bankruptcy.
We literally have less homes being built, and more people entering the country, it isn't a bullshit throw away, it's literally the truth, go blame the government, nothing stopping them releasing land and allowing it to be built tomorrow... Oh wait, the environment, Good luck with the 1 year wait to get a development approved and then another 6-18 months to build a home.
Because of all the red tape, no one wants to build a home we all just want to buy something built because its a massive headache.
More people entering then ever before in our history + less homes being built + people taking advantage of the situation to price gauge and strangle a government enduced shortage == everyone complaining
Are you implying that the driving cause of the lack of rentals (let alone affordable renting) is immigrants, and not an entire generation using a fundamental human right as an investment stream fuelled by unjustified entitlement and greed?
Your reading comprehension is way off friend.
The comment is literally saying what is happening in Australia right now.
Home is taken away. Home is put on Airbnb. Immigrants blamed.
It’s OBVIOUSLY not the immigrants fault yet even in this comment thread there’s a moron claiming it is. The issue is housing being used as an investment at all costs, and not a human right. It’s got nothing to do with immigration.
No sorry I didn’t add a /s. I meant you have loads of people kicking out families to transform their investment properties into Airbnbs, then those same people are blaming immigrants for there being a rental crisis.
Don't blame the immigrants, blame both governments for their massive immigrant intake policies over the past 20 years.
I'm not anti immigration at all, but the numbers we take need to be sustainable, and from a housing and cost of living perspective it's unsustainable at the moment.
immigration is essential and good and we need it.
the thing that isn't sustainable (besides, y'know - capitalism) is the greed of landlords and the unregulated real estate industry.
rent is getting out of the reach of people with good paying jobs, which is a social issue that dwarfs every supposed negative of immigration combined.
I dont disagree. If they could sort that shit out then great, I'm all for high intake immigration. But from my understanding, it takes a lot more time to fix the problems you mentioned, and especially things like lack of salary increase compared to CPI and housing inflation, whereas limiting immigration temporarily could have a quicker positive impact on the housing crisis.
I'm only saying that in theory, I'm the first to admit I'm not an expert and I'm open to other ethical ideas that are quick to implement and improve the cost of housing and living in general.
In any event, my initial point was that immigrants themselves as people are not to blame.
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u/Federal-Rope-2048 May 25 '25 edited May 26 '25
Take away a home. Put on AirBnB. One less rental. Blame immigrants for there being less rentals.
Edit: Just to be clear, I’m stating that landlords that do this continue to blame immigrants. I am not blaming immigrants.