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Property Bubble affects Regional and Rural Australia

Announcement posted by Scoffer Magazine 01 Jul 2015

Regional investors affecting rental costs in regional and rural Australia

For immediate release

 RENT INCREASES EFFECTS REGIONAL AUSTRALIA

 John Stericker, founder and owner of global online portal for share accommodation, flatmate.com has said today that rent increases experienced in Sydney, Melbourne and other Australian capital cities have an effect on regional and rural Australia as well.

“Its pretty simple – as people are being priced out of the market in the inner urban areas, they are increasingly buying property in regional and rural Australia to get in to the property market, and commuting further to work.  This will have an effect on property availability in regional areas that are close to our capital cities and could have a flow on effect for housing affordability in these areas” he said.

A Council to Homeless Persons report released in April 2015 has identified that soaring prices are squeezing lower income earners in regional Victoria out of the rental property market.  The report shows a rental increase of 17% over the past five years and in some regional areas its up to 30%

“This will see an increase in people sharing rental space to economise and make their money go further,” said Stericker.  “It also means it increases the risk of homelessness for some low income earners in regional areas.  What we expect to see in the next few years are more single parent families sharing houses and apartments in regional areas to make ends meet, as is happening in the bigger metropolitan centres now” he concluded.

With Sydney and Melbourne reportedly in housing bubbles, entering the property market in cities is becoming more difficult for young Australians and more and more people are moving to inner regional areas. There is also the issue of investors buying small parcels of land, hobby farms and other rural properties as they consider retirement and what their future looks like.

flatmate.com provides a global platform for people to offer rooms and share houses for rent or to set up arrangements for shared houses. The refurbished site, launching on July 28 will also mean the people in regional areas across the country can use the site as effectively as those in metropolitan and urban areas.

 

ENDS

John Stericker is available for comment or interview

About John Stericker: Founder and Owner, flatmate.com

With a background in the service and IT industries, John Stericker founded flatmate.com in 1998 before facebook and twitter were born, to assist people in finding share accommodation or likeminded people to share with. Stericker is an entrepreneur, elearning trainer and IT specialist, and is committed to new and evolving technologies. He lives in Sydney with his partner and two children.