Letter from the editor

I WAS shocked to see an Australian friend in Adelaide go through a very tough time trying to find a property to rent with a rental housing shortage there.

She had the cash, but there was just no property to be found.

Australian welfare group Shelter SA said property was being withheld from the private rental and sales markets, either through being left vacant or used as an Airbnb and this was causing upward pressure on prices by reducing supply.

I found it interesting how our current situation is different with a glut of rental properties on the market, and with credit bureau TPN finding that there is a de-escalation of rents landlords can ask for this year.

With tourism now opening up I am keen to see how this will affect the rental market as Airbnb may once again become more popular.

This may change how the rental market looks right now – because even though tenants are in the pound seat we know there is no shortage of demand for rental properties.

TPN gives us a closer look at the rental market from the latest Stats SA General Household Survey:

• 3.7 million households live in rented accommodation with 3 million households renting formal housing.

• 2 million households rent a house, flat, apartment, cluster, townhouse or semidetached dwelling; and just under 1 million households rent a backyard house, flat or room, granny flat.

This leaves 762 000 households who rent traditional or informal dwellings.

South Africa at the moment certainly doesn’t seem to have Australia’s problem.

I’m fascinated by the rental market and would love your thoughts on it.