The ABS National Accounts show the huge disparity, but age and household size don’t explain the gap. The average age of a renter is 41 and those paying off a mortgage are 44. The ABS says the average rental home has 1.8 adult occupants while home owners have just 2.1 adults living under the same roof.

A recent Credit Suisse report says Australians are now amongst the world’s wealthiest, with real assets per adult second only to Norway.

The ABS data also shows the growth in the business of renting an investment property. In 1960 just 2.5% of GDP was earned by renting out a dwelling, but by 2010 this had risen to 8%. Last year $99 billion of rent was paid on just under 2 million Australian homes.

“Tenants know that moving house is expensive and if their rent increases are fair they’ll stay put. The RTA stats show that over the past year Brisbane’s median rents rose just 4% and that’s been accepted by the market,” Ms von Rudzinski said. “Landlords have become more cautious too and many are reluctant to have an empty property. We saw the same conservatism during the GFC in 2008 and this means tenants currently have less pressure on them,” she said.

 But the supply of rental homes is rising slowly and without new construction rents will increase again. “Across Brisbane the total rental pool grew by just 1,253 properties in the September quarter. That’s half the number we added in the June quarter – we’re just not bringing a lot of new rental housing onto the market.” 

September’s RTA stats showed no increase in rents on the June quarter. A 3 bedroom Brisbane house rent remained at $390 per week while a 2 bedroom apartment is $380.

If you own a Brisbane property we’d recommend you take the time to check the interim Brisbane flood maps, because home buyers and even some tenants will be making use of them. And they won’t be fully accurate.

So how did they create the maps? The flood line is a joint effort from the State Govt and BCC using aerial photography taken between January 13th and 15th, then verifying these against “digital elevation models and contours”. Naturally some things are hard to spot from the air. Large trees and buildings create shadows, muddy water might be confused with gardens etc.

Apparently in the aftermath of the 1974 floods paint marks on the streets showed where water had reached and no doubt some enterprising intending home-sellers got the metho onto those pretty quickly! In this digital age the public record stands, but it might be worth everyone approaching the maps with some caution.

If you’re looking to buy and aren’t sure about floods levels why not ask a neighbour? Even now, 4 months on, the visible signs are still there with watermarked garden walls for example.

Bees Nees Research Managing Director, Rob Honeycombe says Brisbane’s rents rose for both apartments and houses during the March quarter. Residential Tenancies Authority stats released today show upward pressure on rents right across Brisbane’s suburbs.

“People will point to the January floods as the reason for rents rising, and some heavily-effected suburbs did have spikes in their rents. A 2 bedroom apartment in St Lucia for example jumped $20 per week, with many apartments still damaged at the start of the University year. But other flood-impacted areas like Rosalie, Milton and Paddington actually saw a drop of $5 per week.” 

“We’d argue the trend was already in place for increases to rents. Without new construction in recent years the market was always going to catch up and we now have a rental housing shortage. Brisbane tenants have had pretty flat rents for over 2 years but their rents are now definitely on the rise”.

A median 3 bedroom Brisbane house now rents for $390 per week, while a 2 bedroom apartment is $375.

“One clear impact of the floods was that unless tenants had to move, they stayed put. Turnover was lower than for the same period in 2010, especially in inner-city suburbs where there were 7% less new bonds lodged this past quarter.”

Researchers BIS Shrapnel say Brisbane should expect annual rent rises of 5 to 7% over the next couple of years as housing supply struggles to keep up. ABS data shows housing approvals at a 15 month low. Any quick glance across Brisbane’s inner-city tells a story: there’s only a couple of cranes working on residential towers, new low-rise and townhouse projects are almost non-existent, and it’s been that way for most of the past 4 years.

There are some reasons to explain the flat rents to date, in spite of the lack of new housing. Population growth has slowed, international student numbers (a huge market for the CBD and immediate surround especially) have cooled a little, some tenants bought their own homes with the First Home Boost, and yes, we are putting more people into the same number of homes with 20-somethings staying at home, group households and sharing increasing etc.

But as incomes grow do you really think parents are going to let those kids freeload much longer? Mums and dads have waited a long time for that quiet home! And share households have a tolerance breaking point when that dishwashing-incapable toilet-seat-leaver-upper, smelly and inconsiderate flatmate just isn’t worth the rarely-paid-on-time rent!

It’s starting to look like there’s no more room at the Inn for Brisbane’s inner city tenant market, and BIS Shrapnel’s forecast would be a welcome reward for patient property investors in 2011.

We’ve today gone out to a property under our management to complete the exit inspection, the tenants have moved on. The tenants have done exactly what we expect them to do and left their bin out waiting for bin day. I’m not dragging it in and dragging it back tomorrow (especially on 30 homes a month) Where would agents fine time. And..Yuck!

366 comments on news.com.au clearly shows people have an opinion on this issue. As a tenant or landlord in Brisbane what would you prefer?
a) Tenant leaves bin on street and property manager pulls in within reasonable time frame
b) Council fines landlord, so bin is left inside and stays full (ooh stinky for next tenants)

We know for sure it will be landlords that will pay the fine (Council has all their records at their fingertips and nothing for the tenants) and that doesn’t seem fair.

We know it is an issue, but I think a ‘repeat offender’ system might have to be adopted. Your thoughts?

Many owners have never had this explained to them. So what danger are you in as a landlord? In case of a slip and fall claim by a tenant. In case of an accident in the bath or shower. Plus many more risks. Someone has to pay damages, and hopefully that person is your insurer.

Did you know a policy for Landlord Protection Insurance can cover you not only for the all important Public Liability but may also cover you for:
• Loss of Rent claims caused by storm or fire (we recently had a home in Paddington with the roof blown off, but with a policy to cover your loss of rent it doesn’t cost the landlord anything)
• Carpet damages and clean ups caused by air conditioning leaks or washing machine blow outs
• Loss of Rent claims caused by absconding tenants or rent arrears or properties left in a mess while you/we clean up
• Damages caused by tenants Maliciously, Accidentally or Purposefully

Imagine this scenario… your agent selects a good tenant with references and all the bells and whistles. But three months later, they break up with their spouse and get fired from their job!

The rent stops, of course they get no phone call. The tenants walk away because it’s all too hard!

At 8 days we issue a Notice to Remedy Breach for rent arrears, 7 days later the tenants haven’t paid, the next day we issue a Notice to Leave and 7 days later the tenants haven’t handed back the keys. We put in the paperwork to go to court for a Warrant for Possession, then next week attend. We get the Warrant and the Police come the next week.

The agent is finally able to change the locks and have possession of the property back. They find they have 6 hours of cleaning, carpet cleaning and a bill from the new set of locks and keys.

We’re already more than 5 weeks without rent! The bond money (usually a maximum of 28 days worth) has been spent in a heartbeat yet the agent has done everything the law allows. So who pays…?

You or your insurer…. your call.

Each time we sign up a new tenant and handover keys, we must provide the RTA’s Form 17a Information Statement or “The Green Booklet”. We love The Green Booklet as it explains so many basic rules relating to a tenancy.

It’s good to provide the same basic info to landlords, as if there is something a landlord doesn’t understand, they can find general information in this booklet.

Some landlords assume incorrect information and this type of document is produced widely to educate, which we love!

But even if you CAN understand 36 pages, the booklet is no substitute for years of experience and knowledge.

All Property Managers will tell you that you keep learning throughout your career and in a team environment when we have a challenge we seek advice from our colleagues… so how can a landlord possibly manage the risks of tenancies themselves?

Starting a tenancy

All tenants are good while they’re good, and yes they’re easy to manage. Once you have an actual dispute to manage, it’s a very different story!

For more advice, tips and info go to
www.rta.qld.gov.au or www.beesnees.com.au/faqs_1.html