Aussie renters are being hit with new headache as property market heats up. While rental prices skyrocket and availability remains low, renters face a new headache as longer and tedious applications are asking for copious amounts of personal information making the whole process even worse for would be renters. Domain’s Managing Editor Alice Stolz joined the Today Show to discuss this issue.
With the amount of and types of questions being asked of applicants on rental applications throughout the country, people are applicants are concerned over the use and storage of their personal data, especially in light of several data breeches from major companies around the country.
In November 2022, rental availability around Australia remained relatively low. On a national level, the occupancy rate is expected to be 0.8%, with Perth and Adelaide both at a 0.3% rate and Brisbane at 0.7%. Sydney and Melbourne has slightly higher occupancy rates of 1.1%.
With vacancy rates at 0.8% around the country it is impossible to say that landlords are hurting, so are these applications going too far with the questions they are asking and the data they are collecting? And given these low occupancy rates why is it necessary to collect this information?
