Brisbane rental market: Ray White tries to increase rent by 20% according to leaked email

An Australian rental agency has defended a leaked email outlining how to increase rent by more than 20 per cent amid the state’s housing crisis.

Ray White’s branch in the Brisbane suburb of West End sent an email to landlords encouraging to up rent by between 17 and 20 per cent.

They pointed out that Queensland’s tight rental market meant it was unlikely tenants would reject the increase.

Ray White also said that homeowners could make as much as an extra $10,000 a year if their advice was followed.

It comes as people are struggling to secure a place to live across Australia, with vacancy rates

in Queensland at less than 1 per cent, well below a healthy 2.6 to 3.5 per cent range.

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“Our property managers have been reviewing all our lease renewals and on average recommending a 17 per cent rent increase on the leases renewed in October & November this year,” the email said, per The Guardian.

“As we are planning December lease renewals, the average lease renewal recommendation is above 20 per cent. This can be as much as $10,000 per year in additional rental income.”

The email also said renters have lately been “agreeable” to increased prices, because when they “look at what is available in the market for rent, they understand” that it is “fair and reasonable”.

The Ray White office flagged it was mostly targeting the Brisbane suburbs of West End, High Gate, and South Bank and the CBD.

They claimed two-bedroom units in those areas are going for $480 to $520 a week, when they could wrangle $675 to $850 out of a tenant.

“If you are not achieving these rents (at a minimum), you should be asking why?”

Q Shelter, a Queensland not-for-profit for housing need and homelessness, noted that the timing of this email couldn’t be worse, as the government is meeting in Brisbane this Thursday for an emergency housing summit to address the rental crisis.

Fiona Caniglia, executive director of Q Shelter, said: “It is disappointing to hear this the week of the emergency housing summit to be honest. We already know that many vulnerable Queenslanders are struggling to secure a rental property in the first place

“There are record numbers of people showing up for the small number of properties listed right across Queensland. Such an increase will only benefit those on higher incomes and will of course again negatively affect vulnerable Queenslanders, forcing more people into homelessness.”

Antonia Mercorella, chief executive of Queensland’s Real Estate Institute, admitted her state’s rental market was in a tight spot at the moment.

“Across Brisbane, rental listings have dropped 61.5 per cent since the start of the pandemic putting extreme pressure on supply,” she said.

“As a result, we are seeing much higher prices when properties are advertised and put on the rental market.

“There’s no doubt that market forces, over the past two years, have been extraordinary for a range of reasons and have had a significant impact on rent prices, resulting in a tough market for tenants.”

The entire state is experiencing a housing crisis. News.com.au has previously reported on two single mums from towns just outside Brisbane, who were facing homelessness as their lease was coming to an end and nowhere else accepted them.

In one case, the mother had applied to 20 different places, which were all rejected.

Ray White’s chief economist Nerida Conisbee defended the leaked email, saying that the market is ideal for property investors.

“Right now, Brisbane doesn’t have enough homes for those that want to live here,” she said in a statement to news.com.au.

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“This is making it tough for renters but does make it a good place to invest. While red hot house price growth is unlikely to start up again in the near future, yields are increasing as rents rise.”

She said that house prices had increased by 39 per cent in Brisbane, while rent was still catching up, at only 34 per cent.

Ray White would not comment specifically on the email.

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