Editorial by REIV CEO Kelly Ryan, Published in the Herald Sun on 19 April 2025
With new research revealing over half of all rental properties nationally are held for only two years or less, it’s incumbent on the Victorian government to urgently rethink its current housing strategy if it is to materially improve the health of the state’s rental market.
Through over-regulation and excessive taxation, at the expense of increasingly demonised rental providers, the Allan government risks ultimately doing more harm to renters than good.
After all, if we can agree that rental property supply is key to addressing the state’s current rental crisis, why are we continuing to discourage those whose investment it so heavily depends on?
And by this, I mean the significant and sustained rental market regulatory reforms that have been compounded by the multitude of taxes impacting the ownership and maintenance of rental property.
Indeed, the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Nick Staikos declared proudly, last month, that, “Victoria has the strongest rental protections in the country…”
Importantly, this is not to ignore the plight of renters, with my organisation, the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) being one of many sector stakeholders to publicly support the protection of fundamental renter rights.
But, rather, to highlight that a hallmark of a healthy rental market ecosystem – or any marketplace for that matter – is the striking of a constructive balance between the interests of its two main players, and the fact that Victoria is failing to achieve this.
Consider, for example, the fact that a whopping 150+ largely renter-favourable legislative changes have been made since 2021, 132 of which were introduced simultaneously.
Headlining these reforms have been the likes of allowing up to five strikes for non-payment of rent over a 12-month period and extending various notice periods to 90 days, effectively putting a rental provider in substantial monetary stress if they are relying on rent to manage their expenses.
Coupled with the state’s highly onerous stamp duty and land tax obligations, which have been longstanding advocacy issues for the REIV, one can readily understand reports of the growing exodus of rental providers from the market. This is highlighted in the number of rental bonds held by the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority falling by over 20,000 between the March 2023 and September 2024 quarters.
Needless to say, this a deeply concerning development and one which is completely at odds with exactly what the government is trying to improve…rental property supply!
Making matters worse is the false and inflammatory narrative framed around all landlords being rich, greedy and dodgy, which we see constantly playing out across the public domain.
A perception which ignores the fact that almost nine-in-ten rental providers are private investors, with the majority owning just one rental property. So too, according to ATO data, that the top rental provider occupations are registered nurses, office administrators, primary or secondary school teachers, IT managers, electricians, and sales assistants.
Indeed, newly-released national research, Modelling landlord behaviour and its impact on rental affordability: Insights across two decades, from the Australian housing and Urban Research Institute serves to highlight this misrepresentation. In findings that include the fact that 22 per cent of rental providers sell after the first year, the research makes clear that many rental providers are doing it tough.
And, from first-hand experience at the REIV, this perception problem also serves to discourage rental providers from going public with their concerns for fear of being the subject of inevitable trolling. Meaning their story continues to be under-reported and results in a lack of meaningful pressure being applied to the government to address these important issues.
All of which points to a rental market in need of an urgent government rethink. A process which should be informed by thorough stakeholder consultation, and centred around ensuring a more even balance between renters and rental providers.
Together with lessening the regulatory burden on rental providers, a top priority in this regard – and as proposed in the REIV’s recent submission to the 2025-26 Victorian State Budget – is to ease the stamp duty and land tax obligations imposed on them.
Otherwise, in continuing to adopt a one-sided approach to remedying the state’s rental crisis and increasing the regulatory and taxation burden on rental providers, the government risks ultimately harming the cohort it’s so desperately seeking to protect. And that’s not good for anyone.