The Private Rental Sector in Australia
Description
This book explores the decline and growth of the private rental sector in Australia delving into the changing dynamics of landlord investment and tenant profile over the course of the twentieth century and into the present period. It explains why over one in four Australian households are now private renters and investigates the contemporary legal and regulatory frameworks governing the sector. The reform discourses in Australia and comparator countries, and debates around key concerns such as Australia's advantageous tax treatment of investors in rental property and the power imbalance between tenants and landlords are highlighted. The book draws on rich data: 600 surveys and close to 100 in-depth interviews with tenants in high, medium and low rent areas in Sydney and Melbourne and regional New South Wales. The book provides in-depth insights into this large and expanding component of Australia's housing market and shows how being a private renter shapes the everyday lives and wellbeing of people and households who rent their housing including short and long-term renters, those on low and higher incomes and older as well as younger people.
Reviews / Votes
"This book offers a timely review of contemporary private renting in Australia and an important contribution . . the writing is accessible, balanced and compelling. . The survey and in-depth interview data form the explanatory detail of the book's chapters . make for fascinating reading. . the book provides a valuable navigation through this research to create a novel and comprehensive review of the PRS that is both impressive in its broad coverage and in the detail of its examination." (Simon Louis Opit, Urban Policy and Research, March 11, 2022)"A great advantage to housing researchers and policy makers that three senior Australian housing researchers have prepared this well-written, balanced and penetrating review of the sector. . The entirely descriptive presentation of the data is appropriate for this book . . The book skillfullyplots the history of the PRS. ... Having such a cogent and insightful analysis of the current situation of private tenants provides a useful platform for assisting with the development of such reforms." (Charles Crothers, Journal of Sociology, February 21, 2022)
"Housing scholars who are familiar with the important work of the authors will recognize they draw heavily on some older projects, here creatively interwoven to produce a remarkable work of breadth and depth which would be of interest to anyone interested in PRS, whether student or senior researcher, with an Australian or international interest." (Adriana Mihaela Soaita, Housing Studies, October 21, 2021)
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Alan Morris is a Professor of Sociology in the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at the University of Technology Sydney. He has published extensively on housing and urban issues. His most recent books include Gentrification and Displacement: The Forced Relocation of Public Housing Tenants in Inner-Sydney (2019), The Australian Dream: Housing Experiences of Older Australians (2016) and A Practical Guide to In-depth Interviewing (2015).
Kath Hulse is Professor of Housing Studies at the Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne. She researches and publishes on a broad range of contemporary issues which include housing market dynamics and spatial patterns of socio-economic disadvantage. Her work on the private rental sector is recognised nationally and internationally.
Hal Pawson is Professor of Housing Research and Policy, University of New South Wales, Sydney, and an Associate Director of UNSW's City Futures Research Centre. Renowned as a housing researcher both in Australia and the UK, he is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing, and a Managing Editor of the international journal Housing Studies . He is the author of Housing Policy in Australia: A Case for System Reform (2020) with Vivienne Milligan and Judith Yates.
