Renting in Sydney is "dire" - official

Red alert!

No fuckin shit Sherlock.

This is a disaster of the gov's own making from both sides of parliament over decades. Negative gearing (allowing people to reduce their tax if the property makes a loss) has seen housing become an investor asset that doesn't even require tenants. Indeed there are thousands of properties across all Australia's major cities siting vacant, with the investor simply claiming the non-rent back on tax. All this whilst the real estate people rave on about a shortage of rental properties. WTF?

Just to give an idea about how this is all going bloody pear shaped, in the last 12 months Sydney house prices went up by 20% last year. Not that there's a property bubble or anything :s  Honestly, people think this won't end and property will just keep going up and up.

Luckily, our rent is modest for where we live. The rent went up $10 just now but meh..... BTW we pay over 50% of our income in rent..... Not that the gov gives a flying fuck about it......

Incidentally, at 30 percent, you’re officially experiencing “housing stress”. This is defined as the point when the cost of your rent begins to impact your ability to pay for other essential services. Things like transport. And electricity. And food.

 “The situation remains dire for low income households in metropolitan areas across Australia,” says the the report. Love it when financial reports use words like “dire”. Junkee