❓ Mr. Rundle questions the Minister for Housing about rising rental prices in Perth, citing a report indicating a 45% increase since the pandemic. The Minister responds by outlining government measures to increase housing supply and improve rental vacancy rates.
AnsweredQoN 678Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HOUSING — GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE — RENTAL
PRICES
678. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Housing:
A recent Everybody's Home
report shows that Perth has experienced a staggering 45 per cent rent increase
since the pandemic, one of the highest in the country, surpassing even Sydney
and Melbourne. In comparison, rent increases in those cities were 36 per cent
and 35 per cent respectively. Does the minister concede that this Labor government's
failure to address supply challenges or deliver any real solutions to alleviate
the housing crisis has left us with some of the highest rental prices in the
nation?
PRICES
678. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Housing:
A recent Everybody's Home
report shows that Perth has experienced a staggering 45 per cent rent increase
since the pandemic, one of the highest in the country, surpassing even Sydney
and Melbourne. In comparison, rent increases in those cities were 36 per cent
and 35 per cent respectively. Does the minister concede that this Labor government's
failure to address supply challenges or deliver any real solutions to alleviate
the housing crisis has left us with some of the highest rental prices in the
nation?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for his
question. I have repeatedly talked in this house about how Western Australia,
alongside every state in the country, has
been facing housing and rental pressures. As a government, we have been seeking
to address those issues through boosting housing supply. Of course, only last
week we announced that we were releasing land to the private sector or through
joint ventures for more than 6 000 lots. Of course, that is just one measure of
all the reforms that we have been driving. Our measures are now getting
results. We have actually seen an increase in the rental vacancy rates jumping
from 0.7 per cent up to 1.4 per cent. In the most recent data, we have seen a significant
jump in completions and also commencements. All the data, as the Premier
recently said in Parliament, is showing green shoots. Of course, we are also
providing other safety mechanisms for people who are doing it tough in the
rental market. I want to assure Western Australians that we take the rental
market very seriously. We are addressing it through a range of different measures
and, as I have said before, there will not be a moment in time when we draw a line
in the sand and say, ''That's all the measures that you can do.''
We are consistently seeing from this state government an ambition and
preparedness to think outside the box to drive supply for the rental market.
question. I have repeatedly talked in this house about how Western Australia,
alongside every state in the country, has
been facing housing and rental pressures. As a government, we have been seeking
to address those issues through boosting housing supply. Of course, only last
week we announced that we were releasing land to the private sector or through
joint ventures for more than 6 000 lots. Of course, that is just one measure of
all the reforms that we have been driving. Our measures are now getting
results. We have actually seen an increase in the rental vacancy rates jumping
from 0.7 per cent up to 1.4 per cent. In the most recent data, we have seen a significant
jump in completions and also commencements. All the data, as the Premier
recently said in Parliament, is showing green shoots. Of course, we are also
providing other safety mechanisms for people who are doing it tough in the
rental market. I want to assure Western Australians that we take the rental
market very seriously. We are addressing it through a range of different measures
and, as I have said before, there will not be a moment in time when we draw a line
in the sand and say, ''That's all the measures that you can do.''
We are consistently seeing from this state government an ambition and
preparedness to think outside the box to drive supply for the rental market.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.