Housing Policy | Australian Property Network™

Tenancy Disputes and Bonds: What Each State Reports

No two states count tenancy disputes the same way, and none of the reports reviewed shows how they end. Bond data is fuller: in NSW, 61.6% of bonds refunded in 2025 went back to the tenant in full.

Friday October 2, 2026

Wednesday September 30, 2026

First Home Buyers Who Buy to Invest: A Share That More Than Halved

In the June quarter 2026, first home buyers took 2.88% of new investor loans, the lowest share since the ABS began counting in 2019 and less than half the 6.31% peak of March 2021. Their loans fell while investor lending...

First Home Buyer Assistance, State by State: Grants, Duty Relief and What Is Published

Wednesday September 30, 2026

First Home Buyer Assistance, State by State: Grants, Duty Relief and What Is Published

Seven states and territories pay a first home owner grant, from $10,000 to $50,000, and every one pays it only on a new home. Six relieve transfer duty for first home buyers, three with no cap on the value of...

Tenancy Law Across the States: Bonds, Rent Increases and Notice in Eight Acts

Monday September 28, 2026

Tenancy Law Across the States: Bonds, Rent Increases and Notice in Eight Acts

Every state and territory writes its own tenancy law. Read side by side, the eight residential tenancies Acts largely agree on three basic rules: seven cap a bond at four weeks' rent and seven allow one rent increase in 12...

Who Provides Social Housing Now: The Community Housing Sector, 2006 to 2025

Who Provides Social Housing Now: The Community Housing Sector, 2006 to 2025

Community housing held 30,103 dwellings in 2006 and 118,425 in 2025, taking its share of social housing from 7.4% to 26.2% while public housing fell by 44,837. Part of the shift was transfer of existing dwellings, not new building. The...

When Development Must Include Affordable Housing, State by State

No Australian jurisdiction requires every new housing development to include affordable housing. South Australia expects 15% in developments of 20 or more dwellings within its overlay, the City of Sydney levies 3% of residential floor area, and New South Wales...

What Affordable Housing Means, Jurisdiction by Jurisdiction

Affordable housing is defined three different ways in Australian state law: by household income in New South Wales and Victoria, by rent in Queensland's priority development areas, and by sale price in South Australia, where the limit for a dwelling...

Homelessness Initiatives

Homelessness Services: What Is Provided and What Is Not

In 2024–25, specialist homelessness services identified a need for long-term housing for 113,368 people and provided it to 4,407. They recorded 128,915 requests they could not assist, most often because no accommodation was available. What the service records measure, and...

Tuesday September 22, 2026

Homelessness Initiatives

What the Homelessness Counts Show

On Census night 2021, 122,494 people in Australia were counted as homeless, 48.2 per 10,000. In 2024–25, 288,970 people received help from specialist homelessness services. The two counts measure different things, and the largest group in the Census count is...

Social Housing

What a Social Housing Waiting List Counts

At 30 June 2025, 205,977 households were on the AIHW's consolidated social housing waitlist. Each state assembles its list under its own rules, and the share classed in greatest need runs from 16.8% in New South Wales to 99.6% in...

Tuesday September 22, 2026

Social Housing

Social Housing as a Share of All Dwellings, 2012 to 2025

Social housing made up 4.69% of Australia's residential dwellings in June 2012 and 3.98% in June 2025, and the share fell in each of the thirteen years that followed. The stock grew by 25,311 dwellings while about 2.26 million were...

Tuesday September 22, 2026

Friday September 18, 2026

Government-Owned Dwelling Delivery, Quarter by Quarter

The public sector started 1.76% of Australia's new dwellings in the March quarter of 2026 and finished 2.58% of completions. In the late 1980s the figure was about one dwelling in eleven; across the 2020s it has been about one...

Friday September 18, 2026

Twenty-Four Years of First Home Buyer Lending

First home buyers took 36.21% of new owner-occupier housing loans in the March quarter of 2026, five points above the average since 2002 and above it for 29 straight quarters. The Australian Capital Territory is at its highest share in...

One Nation’s Housing Platform: Strategic Briefing

One Nation’s Housing Platform: Strategic Briefing

APN assesses the structural evidence base underpinning One Nation's six-mechanism housing and population platform, identifies three mechanisms that work against the platform's stated objectives, and presents a reformed framework operating within the same policy agenda.

Wednesday May 27, 2026

APN Sovereign Policy Composite Index™ (SPCI, 24800): State Policy Facilitates Systemic Capital Reallocation from Retail Investors to Institutional Landlords

Tuesday February 24, 2026

APN Sovereign Policy Composite Index™ (SPCI, 24800): State Policy Facilitates Systemic Capital Reallocation from Retail Investors to Institutional Landlords

A coordinated government pincer movement is set to dismantle Australia's retail property investment model. APN analysis shows a deliberate, state-engineered wealth transfer is underway, with federal tax 'Friction' forcing out 'mum-and-dad' investors while state tax 'Velocity' subsidises the rise of...

The Anniversary Squeeze: How ‘Economic Evictions’ Drive a 12-Month Churn Cycle in Logan

Tuesday February 10, 2026

The Anniversary Squeeze: How ‘Economic Evictions’ Drive a 12-Month Churn Cycle in Logan

A structural flaw in Queensland's rental laws is forcing a compliant "economic eviction" of tenants every 12 months. APN analysis identifies this "Anniversary Squeeze" as the primary driver of a destructive churn cycle in affordable suburbs, creating "transient hubs" and...

The Commuter Delta: How RBA Policy and HGS Caps Are Structuring the Yass Property Market

Thursday February 5, 2026

The Commuter Delta: How RBA Policy and HGS Caps Are Structuring the Yass Property Market

A collision of Federal housing policy and RBA monetary strategy is systematically displacing first home buyers from Canberra. APN analysis shows this 'Serviceability Exodus' is creating an artificial 'Liquidity Floor' in the Yass property market, where prices are converging on...

The ‘400% Spike’ Conflation: How a Regulatory Structural Adjustment and Student Inflow Created a Two-Tier Rental Market

Thursday January 22, 2026

The ‘400% Spike’ Conflation: How a Regulatory Structural Adjustment and Student Inflow Created a Two-Tier Rental Market

A reported 400% spike in rental bidding is a statistical mirage, masking a deeper market fracture. APN analysis shows how divergent state laws and a surge in student demand have created a two-tier system where liquidity, not income, determines housing...

Federal Government’s ‘CPI + 1%’ Rent Cap Proposal: A Constitutional Strategy to Influence State-Level Regulation

Federal Government’s ‘CPI + 1%’ Rent Cap Proposal: A Constitutional Strategy to Influence State-Level Regulation

The Federal Government's leaked “CPI + 1%” national rent cap is not the policy it appears to be. APN analysis identifies it as a calculated constitutional bluff designed to coerce State governments, with the immediate side effect being a “pre-emptive...

Tuesday January 13, 2026

APN Analysis: Rental Market Structural Pressure Point Correlates with Public Safety Risk Indicators

APN Analysis: Rental Market Structural Pressure Point Correlates with Public Safety Risk Indicators

The Australian rental market has crossed a dangerous threshold, with chaotic scenes at open homes escalating into a verifiable public safety risk. APN analysis shows the convergence of extreme crowd sizes, rising aggression, and major police incidents has created a...

Sunday January 11, 2026

Structural Adjustment Confirmed: Investor Divestment Sustainedly Reduces Australia’s Rental Capacity

Structural Adjustment Confirmed: Investor Divestment Sustainedly Reduces Australia’s Rental Capacity

The private rental market is not just tightening; it is structurally fracturing. APN analysis shows that a 16.7% investor sell-off, combined with a 58% conversion rate of that stock to owner-occupancy, has created a net annual rental deficit of over...

Friday November 28, 2025

Coalition Policy Pivot: Bragg Abandons “Super for Housing” for “Laser Focus” on Supply

Coalition Policy Pivot: Bragg Abandons “Super for Housing” for “Laser Focus” on Supply

Shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg has signalled a major policy pivot, stating the Coalition will likely abandon its "Super for Housing" policy. APN analysis confirms this shift to a "laser focus" on supply is a political adoption of the APN...

Sunday November 9, 2025

NRAS Wind-Down Confirms Federal Structural Retreat, Accelerating Social Cohesion Degradation and Homelessness Risk

NRAS Wind-Down Confirms Federal Structural Retreat, Accelerating Social Cohesion Degradation and Homelessness Risk

The cessation of the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) by 2026 is a definitive federal "Structural Retreat." APN analysis reveals this Project Overlord decision is a primary driver of social fragmentation, creating an "affordability cliff" that is actively degrading Project...

Monday October 27, 2025

The Squeezed Territory: Deconstructing the NT’s Cost-of-Living and Housing Crisis

Thursday October 16, 2025

The Squeezed Territory: Deconstructing the NT’s Cost-of-Living and Housing Crisis

A severe cost-of-living crisis is creating systemic housing stress in the Northern Territory, threatening the market's long-term stability. Our deconstruction analyses how a pincer movement of rising investor demand and collapsing local affordability is hollowing out the market from within,...

The Housing Poverty Trap: Deconstructing the HILDA Report’s Findings on Single-Parent Households

Thursday September 25, 2025

The Housing Poverty Trap: Deconstructing the HILDA Report’s Findings on Single-Parent Households

The latest HILDA report reveals a shocking statistic: nearly one in three single-parent households lives in poverty after paying for housing. Our analysis deconstructs this data and explores the systemic failure of the property market to provide for this critical...

Beyond Charity: Why the Homelessness Crisis is a Core Business Risk for Australian Property

Homelessness Initiatives

Beyond Charity: Why the Homelessness Crisis is a Core Business Risk for Australian Property

The property industry miscalculates when it views homelessness as a peripheral issue for charity. This opinion piece argues that the escalating crisis represents a core business risk, threatening the sector's social license, market stability, and exposure to adverse government intervention.

Friday September 12, 2025

Affordable Housing Dries Up: Aussie Capitals Shed 24 Homes a Day

Wednesday August 13, 2025

Affordable Housing Dries Up: Aussie Capitals Shed 24 Homes a Day

Ray White reports Australian capital cities are collectively losing a net 23 affordable homes daily (houses under $750,000), primarily driven by house losses, with Sydney and Brisbane leading the decline. This trend presents significant challenges for Australian property professionals. Agents...

Australia’s 30,000-Home Deficit: Dissecting the Numbers Behind the Housing Shortfall

Australia’s 30,000-Home Deficit: Dissecting the Numbers Behind the Housing Shortfall

Editor’s Note: This is Part 1 of the APN Insight series, “The Anatomy of a Crisis.” The series was prompted by a viral video from MacroBusiness economist Leith van Onselen, which crystallised the scale of the nation’s housing shortfall. In...

Tuesday August 12, 2025

Is Migration Really to Blame for the Housing Crisis? An Alternative View

Is Migration Really to Blame for the Housing Crisis? An Alternative View

Editor’s Note: This is Part 3 of the APN Insight series, “The Anatomy of a Crisis.” The series was prompted by a viral video from MacroBusiness economist Leith van Onselen, which crystallised the scale of the nation’s housing shortfall. In...

Tuesday August 12, 2025

JobSeeker Stoppage: What it Means for Aussie Property & Rentals

JobSeeker Stoppage: What it Means for Aussie Property & Rentals

A recent audit reveals government failings in JobSeeker payment administration, impacting vulnerable Australians and potentially destabilising the rental market. The audit found 1,009 JobSeeker recipients had their benefits illegally cancelled due to ICT system failures following legislative changes. This can...

Thursday August 7, 2025

Motel Living: Housing Crisis Pushes Aussies to the Brink

Motel Living: Housing Crisis Pushes Aussies to the Brink

Australia's housing crisis forces families into extended motel stays as emergency accommodation, highlighting severe affordability issues and limited rental options for vulnerable households.

Tuesday August 5, 2025