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Platform‐mediated short‐term rentals (STRs) are a relatively new addition to the housing landscape, providing accommodation on a temporal scale that falls between hotel stays and long‐term rentals (LTRs). Given the potential for STR hosts to charge significantly higher nightly rates for the same property than they might through an LTR lease enumerated in months or years, many have asked whether a 'gap' exists between the two, and how persistent this may be over space and time. In this paper, we modify and validate classical bid–rent theory to investigate spatial variation in the rent gap between STRs and LTRs over time in two distinct contexts in Queensland, Australia. We conduct statistical analyses on STR data against LTR data from local property records in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, identifying a significant rent gap, particularly close to high‐amenity areas. We find strong evidence of distance decay in the rent gap, with rents converging with increasing distance in most cases, indicating that STRs only 'outcompete' LTRs near high‐amenity areas, which in this analysis are the central business districts (Brisbane) and the beach (Sunshine Coast). We also find that the rent gap increases as properties get larger in size, and over time. These findings carry implications for policy aiming to balance the needs of multiple stakeholders and political agendas against planning frameworks prescribing where short‐term accommodation is best situated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rents in the Australian private rental sector (PRS) have long been determined by the market, but during the public health and economic crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, state and territory governments implemented emergency measures to prevent evictions and regulate rents. This article reviews the rent measures implemented and their outcomes, using survey data and other quantitative evidence, and interviews with PRS stakeholders. We find the rent measures, which relied on negotiations between individual landlords and tenants, had a modest effect – just 8–16% of tenants got a rent variation – and tenants, landlords and agents struggled in unfamiliar roles. The emergency period holds lessons and prompts questions about future directions in policy-making for rental affordability and PRS relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slow response of volume housebuilders to changes in demand has been cited as a contributing cause of a global crisis of housing affordability and allegations of land banking have persistently dogged the industry. This article reviews the supply responsiveness of speculative housebuilders in the United Kingdom and Australia through the neglected Marxian analytic category of absolute rent. Absolute rent directs attention to the relationship between the value of land and the cost of housing and models a market in which landowners may withdraw land from supply to inflate prices. Through the lens of absolute rent, the real estate practices of the housebuilding industry can be understood as a strategy of artificial scarcity straddling land and housing markets. The findings of this investigation demonstrate the insights to be gained by a return to absolute rent that valuably expand the current debate on the supply and cost of housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the 2023–24 Budget saw the first real increase in rent assistance in Australia since 1990, this was small compared to the growth in real incomes over the three decades. Rapid increases in advertised rents, and expectations that these will flow through to average rents, make an increase in this payment all the more urgent. This article reviews the arguments for and against providing rent assistance to income support recipients in Australia and argues for a serious consideration of the 2010 recommendations of the Report into Australia's Future Tax System for a substantial increase in this payment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shared rental housing has long been one of the few affordable options available to low-income urban singles. Gaining access to a share rental dwelling has historically relied on 'low tech' communications such as noticeboards and classifieds, in relatively localised spatial areas. With the global proliferation of digitally mediated peer-to-peer platforms, the geographical reach of shared renting, including the opportunity for living with strangers, has expanded. Amidst declining affordability and growing precarity, the enhanced spatial flows and connectivity of peer-to-peer platforms provide a direct yet informal route into rental housing. In these informal spaces, singles rely on networks of 'distributed' rather than 'institutional' trust associated with formal rental arrangements. Drawing on interviews with urban singles in Australia, this paper explores the everyday informal practices of forming networks for shared access, negotiating the living agreement, creating a home and becoming an expert in the digitally mediated spaces of the shared rental household. The everyday informal practices of 'distributed trust' sheds new light on the spatially contingent 'trust cultures' emerging in shared renting. Despite narratives of a movement towards the more collaborative consumption of a sharing economy, enduring informal practices of opportunists and entrepreneurs that erode trust and a sense of home persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the potential for benefit-sharing from large-scale renewable energy projects in Australia on land held under customary ownership. I argue that the growing body of scholarship on accumulation by energy dispossessions needs to be balanced by attention to the opportunities for benefit-sharing by Indigenous landholding interests. I remain open to the possibility that rent-seeking can create value for historically marginalised and formerly dispossessed Indigenous communities. Following a recent sustained period of Aboriginal repossession of land, benefits can flow to Aboriginal landholders and managers based on the strength and durability of traditional and novel property rights, and their capacity to negotiate benefits. Drawing on the extensive literature on mining negotiations in Australia, I focus on the significant role that the law plays in shaping benefit-sharing opportunities particularly through a procedural right of veto for Indigenous interests. Overall the legal procedural protections for Indigenous landholders are weaker for large scale renewable energy developments than for minerals extraction, and stronger under one legislative regime (Land Rights) than another (Native Title). This analysis shows how the law is both a site of struggle over benefit-sharing and can shape socio-spatially differentiated outcomes. I call for greater analysis of the relationship between rent-seeking, reparation and energy justice, with an emphasis on the distribution of benefits not just burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the notion of capitalizing on investments in energy, water and gas efficiency within the context of affordable rental housing subsidy schemes; how associated utility savings offer a means to deliver policy designed to mitigate for issues of split-incentives. An Australian case study representing a typical affordable housing development is analyzed for two scenarios - a 'Business as usual' and 'Green-certified' case. Over a 10-year rental tenancy, operational utility efficiencies, achieved through green building principles are modelled to reduce total housing costs by 1.7–3.8% (AUD $5–18 per week), for one- and four-person households, respectively. Over the building lifecycle, the net present value of improvements are forecasted to be positive, signalling favourable support for policy interventions. The findings provide evidence to support a broader notion of 'housing assistance' to one that includes improved standards on residential utility efficiency. We present three policy options on how to deliver these benefits to stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses progress for the adoption of solar panels, a key technology which is forecast to play a leading role in pursuit of societal sustainability goals. We assess the social change of emerging inequality for whether renters have solar panels at their dwelling. Our analysis uses four large household surveys covering the period of 2012–2020 in Australia, the leading country in the world in terms of solar photovoltaic capacity per capita. Inequality in solar-panel access among renters was hard to detect in 2012, as very few renters had access. This started to change by 2015–16 with the emergence of inequality, with the wealthiest quintile being more likely to have solar-panel access than the lowest quintile by over two percentage points. The gap had increased to 4.5 percentage points by 2019–20. It is therefore possible to forecast inequitable access to solar panels unless policies change to focus on differences among renters. Policies supporting the lowest wealth-quintile of renters would address inequality more effectively than other approaches. • Solar-panel access for renters varies substantially across wealth distributions. • Solar-panel inequality has grown between 2012 and 2020 for Australian renters. • Continued inequality widening is possible to forecast without policy changes. • Policies can change to focus on net wealth distributions among renters. • A key group requiring policy support is the bottom-wealth quintile of renters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use data from the Household Expenditure Survey and Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey to document facts about consumption and income inequality among households in Australia, emphasising the role of the rents imputed to home owners for conclusions about inequality. Consistent with other developed economies, consumption inequality in Australia is lower on average than income inequality. Both have increased since the early 1990s, with income inequality increasing by more. We decompose the trend in income inequality into four components: (i) changes in observed household characteristics; (ii) changes in the returns to unobserved skills; (iii) changes in the size of persistent income shocks; and (iv) changes in the size of transitory income shocks. We find that changes in the size of persistent and transitory income shocks, rather than changes in observed household characteristics, explain most of this trend. Since the middle of the 2000s, the source of income inequality has shifted from transitory to persistent factors, which is consistent with the rise in consumption inequality over the corresponding period. We find that accounting for imputed rents lowers estimates of the level of inequality in Australia, but has a negligible effect on the trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines how the housing tenure of older Australians, who are primarily or solely dependent on the government age pension for their income, impacts on their health. Drawing on 125 in-depth interviews with older private renters, social housing tenants and homeowners, it focuses mainly on interviewees’ narratives as to the impacts of their housing tenure on their mental health and outlook. It illustrates that security of tenure and cost of accommodation potentially has a profound impact on the psychological health of older Australians. Most of the older private renters told of being constantly stressed due to concerns about being given notice to vacate or an untenable rent increase. In contrast, the strong security of tenure and limited accommodation costs of older social housing tenants and homeowners created a foundation for a positive outlook and the capacity to lead a decent life. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the distribution of income in Australia and the role of class antagonism and landed property in it. Topics discussed include relationship between rent and landed property, the labour to capital share of gross domestic product (GDP) in Australia, and the marginalist revolution in economic theory. Also mentioned are the industrialist bourgeoisie.

A report on the government-led innovations in affordable housing delivery in Australia as of October 2017 is presented. These innovations include the Western Australian Affordable Housing Strategy, the National Rental Affordability Scheme, and the East Kimberley Transitional Housing Program. Also discussed are the role of political leadership in the program, state supply of affordable housing, and federal government supply of housing.

An embryonic literature exists on policy failures by the Australian Government, which has examined inter alia the Home Insulation Program, the Green Loans Program, the Building the Education Revolution, and the macroeconomic stimulus package following the global financial crisis. This article contributes to this literature by considering the introduction of the Mineral Resources Rent Tax (MRRT) and its subsequent performance in terms of revenue. We evaluate the implementation of the MRRT using theoretical insights from the policy analysis literature and attempt to draw some broader public policy “lessons”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

House prices in some Australian capital cities have recently been on the rise to the extent that some describe this as an emerging bubble, but this claim remains formally untested to date. We apply a recently developed time series procedure to detect, and time-stamp, bubbles in house price to rent ratios in Australian capital cities. The results show a sustained, yet varying, degree of speculative behaviour in all capital cities in the 2000s before the 2008 global financial crisis ( GFC) engulfing different housing markets. The onset of these bubbles was soon after the federal government introduced a major change to the capital gains tax law, and all of these bubbles collapsed with or before the GFC. As of January 2016 only Sydney exhibits significant evidence of an exuberant rise in house prices compared to rents. We believe that the method we apply has the potential to be a general early warning indicator to detect housing bubbles in other countries/markets. We provide the programming files to enable researchers to implement this test in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how a technocratic consensus was constructed around the emergence of build to rent housing (BTR) in Australia which helped depoliticize this new wave of rental housing financialization. It argues that (digital) news media—an age-old medium for elite storytelling—operates as a key discursive technology of financialized capitalism through which this consensus is 'policed'. Specifically, reporting scripted the rise of institutional investors into Australia's rental sector in ways that disavowed properly political disagreements vis-à-vis BTR. Its analysis is informed by post-political theories, which converge around a shared concern with how political disagreement is disavowed and replaced with technocratic governance, consensus and a privileging of certain orders of subjects. Post-foundational thinker Jacques Rancière's thinking on aesthetic regimes assists in exploring this consensus and its limits by foregrounding how regimes of representation delineate what can be said and argued (and different agents' authority to speak). This Rancièrian aesthetic analysis identifies that news media restricts the coordinates of public debate through: (1) technical storylines that guide public audiences to understand and evaluate BTR foremost as an asset class whose expansion is a matter of national economic interest; (2) strategic silences that obscure associated complexities and tensions surrounding BTR's dual function as an asset class and as housing; and (3) endorsement of BTR industry actors as 'experts' with authority to make BTR thinkable in this way. The aesthetic regime that circumscribes Australian public BTR debate represents a post-political strategy that assists in non-trivial ways to re-inscribe the financializing project in Australia, albeit with limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period since 1970 has seen a very significant rise in house prices and rents in real terms in Australia. The geographical variance in house prices in the United States over the same period provides an insight into the rising value attached to amenity and the impact of supply constraints in explaining the rise. Financial deregulation and low interest rates are the key factors that, after 1991, boosted prices but at the same time limited rent growth. These factors are a one-off and not a guide to the future. The decline in home-ownership rates requires a more nuanced debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing is both a key indicator of and contributor to, social advantage/disadvantage. Opportunities for wealth creation, affordability, sense of security and belonging to community and place, level of choice, self-esteem and self-determination are all linked to housing and, more specifically, to tenure type with its resulting (and often hidden) inequity. Issues relating to affordability and availability of housing have come to the forefront in recent times, with Australian property prices rising beyond the means of many low-income households leaving some group: excluded from achieving the sought after goal of home ownership. In this paper, I explore the impact of non-home ownership on a particularly significant and disadvantaged social group, sole mother families who do not own their homes and who subsequently rent their housing. A key concern addressed in this paper is the notion of home itself and how achieving a sense of home can be problematic when renting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on nineteenth century globalisation argues that during the second half of that century wage–rental ratios in labour scarce, land-abundant new world economies decreased. This suggests inequality rose in the new world. Australia has been cited as a conspicuous example of this trend. The paper re-examines this argument using disaggregated land and wage data for four Australian colonies. We reveal large regional differences in both factor–price levels and trends – something that has been overlooked when discussing Australian colonial inequality and we suggest that regional disparities in other nineteenth century economies are also likely to be important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explain the tendency of youth to reside outside the parental household and the decision to share living arrangements with unrelated persons. We depart from the typical demographic analysis of household formation by using a multiequation framework, by addressing sample truncation bias, and by testing for whether marriage and childbearing are endogenous decisions. Household formation should depend on the cost of independent living and the individual's ability to pay that cost. We focus on the role of spatially varying rental costs and use Australian data to test our hypotheses. We find that the cost of shelter influences the decision to reside in a group or alone. We also find that an individual's earnings' capacity significantly impacts both the decision to reside separately from others and the decision to reside outside the parental household. The greatest influence on household formation derives from the impact of marriage and childbearing. The effects of these factors on the decision to reside separately from others have been underestimated in past work that does not account for sample truncation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the Resource Rent Tax introduced by the Australian Labor Government on mining activities in 1983. Arguments for basing mine taxes on mineral rent; Model of mining activities and derivation of the optimum tax regime; Theory of the Resource Rent Tax as a form of rent-based tax; Aspects and principles of the actual tax which is to be implemented.

William Edward Hearn, first Professor of Economics in the University of Melbourne, and author of Plutology or the Theory of the Efforts to Satisfy Human Wants (1863), is a figure familiar to those who have even a casual acquaintance with the development of economic thought in Australia. His work has been the object of studies by a number of distinguished scholars, most notably Professor J. A. La Nauze in his Political Economy in Australia, and earlier, Sir Douglas Copland in the Macrossan Lectures of 1935. More recently, Professor Craufurd Goodwin has dealt with some of the aspects of Hearn's contribution. The purpose of this article is not to retrace the ground covered by these writers, but to draw attention to a short, but interesting, item by Hearn which seems so far to have escaped notice. This item, which sheds new light on the genesis and contents of the Plutology, is a discourse On Cottier Rents read before the Dublin Statistical Society in 1851. The address was given during Hearn's tenure as Professor of Greek at Queen's College, Galway, and in the year which saw the publication of his Cassell Prize Essay on the Condition of Ireland. In contrast with the latter, the Statistical Society paper embodies economic analysis of some merit, although both works are concerned with the need for legal reform in Ireland. The paper examines the bases of social and economic stagnation in Ireland through a consideration of the influence of certain pervasive market forces. In the course of this consideration, Hearn displays an analytical facility which warrants the attention of the historian of economic ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]