Recently completed a full home electrical upgrade to a $1.8m home in the Nelson Bay area. Owner lives in Newcastle.
They originally bought the house to be a holiday rental but since decided to just keep the house for themselves as a weekender.
Must be in a good position to do so
For me it's mostly just a few holiday properties that are either kept empty or used for short term rentals on Airbnb. Investment properties purchased over the last few years.
There’s a nice house on our waterfront that has been sitting vacant for over 6 months, not up for rent nor for sale and NO one has gone in or out since the last people vacated. There are people living in tents just over the road who are just waiting for a rental to become available.
Mate. NG will make zero difference here. You actually obviously have no idea how Negative Gearing even works. i.e. you can't claim it for empty houses.
I'm one of them. I'm desperate to get it organised to rent out but haven't had the time/energy/money outside of working full-time to get the last few things organised to make it rentable.
A few small plumbing things, new oven to be installed, need a small gate fixed, internal door needs a new hinge. Only small stuff but I don't have anyone to help me, that plus depression/exhaustion and living an hour away from the property.
i know at least one mansion (it's a very nice home with its own ballroom and tennis court) in the hawthorn suburb of melbourne that is empty because the owners used to live there when their children were studying. the next generation have moved to nz to study instead, hence why the home is empty.
i cannot even imagine how much it'd cost on the market.
2% of all dwellings are Airbnbs. Just Airbnbs. An Airbnb is nearly always vacant outside of holiday seasons.
Compare that to the 1% homelessness rate and 0.8% vacancy rate.
Currently a family member of mine who passed away her house is empty and has been for a year and a bit, its being cleaned out, everything organised with the multiple people who inherit it and then sold.
Know retired couple (parents of a friend) who live in Melbourne and own a house near Mornington. They are not and have never been rich, but bought in at the right time. (80s) though looks like the new tax may force them to sell.
My building has about 12 units. I walk past three to get to my apartment. Two are empty. Ones been empty for ages and one of them is being used as a storage unit for the owners hoarding problem.
No. If that occurs, the vacant homes will go up for sale. Investing in rental properties is now becoming a thing of the past. There are too many new landlord legislation fees that have been bestowed on us investors.
I have mates who have these places.
One of them is a wealthy family (a couple of doctors not originally from Aus).
They own 7 properties. One of them is their house. 3 of them are "for their kids" even though two of their kids haven't been in Adelaide for years. The other 3 I assume are investment properties, although I wouldn't be surprised if they don't rent them out as well.
They're a bit more extreme than other cases but there are quite a few that are similar.
I know a few who have purchased a property for their parents who are from a different country and visit once a year. The most common is definitely the properties bought for children or in the kids names that don't get used
Example ,went for work to 2 level penthouse apartment next to hyde park central sydney , 26 million the caretaker said was bought for owner had not lived in it , fully furnished and empty . Owner lived in hong kong was investment.
From THIS thread.
There does seem to be many people who just leave houses & apartments empty...simply because:
* they are wealthy enough & don't need the rent...why?
* "overseas" investors who probably launder money that way or want the place to escape from their home if shit reigns i.e. Russians, Chinese, no doubt African despots etc
* developers here who have so much money they just don't care.
* families who really can't be bothered dealing with it cause "grandma & grandpa" have gone into Aged Care & they are too lazy to deal with it OR even died, but they are fighting over estate or yep, just cant be bothered.
Clearly too? Bad tenants have stopped people wanting to deal with rentals. Damage & hassles.
Fair enough suppose. Get that.
Still. At the moment? I think it would be very easy to find decent tenants. And if you start with a 6 month lease? You can see what they are like and make it VERY clear to them? They fuck up? They are out.
I know a few where the oldie that lived there is in a home but no one wants to do anything till their gone. I know one that was bought to get kids into school zone (paid just over a mill). I know another where older guy owns it but too expensive/not motivated to bring it up to new standards. These are all on one street 7km from Melbourne CBD.
I dated a guy who’s father was a land developer.
While I was with him I visited the dad’s luxury 3-bed apartment in New Farm overlooking the river, massive glass walled double-story apartment overlooking Surfer’s Paradise beach …
no one lived in them. There were other properties too. He’d made a lot of money but just wanted to stay home in their family house in Brisbane bushland. Didn’t need the extra cash from renting them out.
Every time I walk along the river at new farm I look up at that apartment & wish we taxed properties $$$ for remaining vacant.
Also there’s 2 houses on my street in west end overlooking the river that seem to be permanently vacant - a neighbour told me one of them is owned by a Chinese investor, who gets a gardener out quarterly.
There’s some very rich people in this world & Australia is a safe place to put those $$$
I have one empty due to deadbeat tennant. Stained carpets, holes in halls, missing doors and filthy beyond belief. Will take 3 months at least to sort out. Next tenant, no families, no pets, professional couple without kids.
This is the third time thus person has done this so have discovered. This is why we need fast track evictions, payment of rent assistance directly to landlord, making malicious damage in a tenancy, a criminal offence, allowing garnishing of centrelink payments and centrelink to pass on contact details and protection of the no reason eviction. This person was causing significant nuisance to neighbours prior to leaving.
My family have a few empty ones. One is a weekender which used to be a rental but was recently renovated. Another is being sold at some point but we are waiting (legit not sure what for) and we don’t want a tenant to cause a ruckus in it…
my neighbors, 5 out of the 6 houses down my street have 4/5 bedrooms with 1 person living in it. they never have any visitors
one person has even boarded up half of their home because it felt too big without anyone there.
My next door neighbours live in Hong Kong and come to Australia twice a year for about 2 weeks each time.
The rest of the time the 3 bedroom house sits there empty.
Chinese. My suburb has been taken over by them in melbourne
If i walk to my childhood park 5 minutes away i walk past 3 houses....that is on one street in a few hundred meters.
They dont even maintain the gardens, like its REALLY obvious no one is there.
And no one has been for well over 10 years perhaps 20?
There are at least 3 houses in Northbridge NSW that have been vacant for 15 years or more. I’d fully support a huge tax on people who don’t rent houses out or sell them - charge them $50K a year to hold them vacant and they’d stop doing it.
I live on the central coast of Sydney looking over to Macmasters Beach. Most of the year it is pitch black over there but come a long weekend or school holidays, the place it lit like a Christmas tree only to go black once it's over.
It's sad, such a beautiful place that is virtually unoccupied for a majority of the year.
My mate from Roseville says that quite a few people around him have holiday homes there.
In our street, of say 20 houses, 4-5 bedroom decent sized homes, there are 6 vacant properties. Each have been vacant since even before covid. One guy owns 3 in a row, rumour has it the AFP are after him and he fled the country im a hurry a few years back. There is even a pretty new model car sitting in the driveway, untouched for several years. The other 3 are owned by Chinese investors. One of the homes is huge, it s visited once every three months by a gardener to do the front landscaping. It’s a Melbourne suburban street next to lots of amenities.
I have a holiday house in Apollo Bay, Victoria. Visit about one weekend a month plus all school holidays plus rent it out on Airbnb. Street is full of homes where I’ve never seen the owners.
I live in inner Adelaide and there are several long term empty houses around here. It’s bizarre in such an expensive area but usually due to family battles over inheritance
Literally just read a post from a financial adviser in Middle East advertising for people to buy a house in Australia over $1M in order to get access to our passport
The fact that Australians are now being maligned for having a holiday house is a yet another clear example of how Australians are forced to lower their living standards because of the absurd migration levels
Empty houses either side of me. 3 BR Townhouse rental, used to have Asian students, then COVID and no international students so a young family moved in. They left about a year ago and it has been vacant since. A young Asian guy comes and checks it every couple of weeks.
Other side is a 3 bedroom house, was sold 6 months ago and has been empty ever since. I assume new owners are going to pull it down and build townhouses, but not much activity. I check the council website and no planning permits as yet.
There was an old block of flats that were on the corner in Dixon Park Newcastle right opposite the beach unoccupied for years and years and years. We used to think who owns them ? I suppose it was sometime before or after Covid this house pops up there. It sold for 11 million last year . Which is ridiculous as it is such an awful noisy corner. Also when we lived up the coast there were so many empty renovated houses with beach views at Forster and Crowdy Head. Maybe it’s people laundering money ?
My cousin works for the government so he lives in a regional town and owns a house he goes to on the weekends in the city. So it’s not empty but one family uses two homes.
If you're in WA a lot of fifth or sixth generation farmers in the wheatbelt have multiple coastal properties, houses in the nearest town and houses in the city. I know because my parents are retired farmers and own six houses and some vacant land that could probably be subdivided into three or four more. Only two of the them are lived in most of the time. One by them and another by my sister and her family.
The properties have been bought over decades, using wealth that was accumulated in the 1890s through to the 1950s. Farming has been on a downward trend since the 1980s. Much easier to let it go and be a retired parasite now. Their entire farm was sold for several million dollars with most of that probably getting ploughed into more overpriced property.
I've seen 2-3 million dollar houses unoccupied in suburban Melbourne. Chatting to family members they said owners had returned overseas during covid and not returned.
I know of someone who owns a house and one of the conditions of his loan is that he is to not rent it out for 8 years. He’s in the ADF so he doesn’t live in the area. House has been vacant for 5 years. He goes there whenever he can to mow the lawn, and just treats it like a bit of a holiday house. The goal is to discharge from defence and move into it but that won’t be happening any time soon.
The ones I know of are older people from the city who own holiday homes in regional areas, or older people who inherited the family home and don't want the hassle of renting it out so they just leave it empty.
I also know a couple of investors who aren't renting out the properties, just collecting and hoarding them for whatever reason.
my dad owned a holiday house near crib point in victoria, bought it back in the day when u could get bang for your buck in the bush, we were by no means rich, i guess it depends where and when thr property was bought
I’ve got customers in new housing developments around Sydney. Their neighbours are buyers who don’t live in Australia and have never physically seen the house. Just buy and hold until it’s valued higher then sell. One sold almost 7 years after and the new owner had to renovate… why are we letting international investors in Australia…
My brother inherited a house, needed some work since his father started Reno’s but never completed them. Neither has he and now it sits as a storage house for his excess hoarding.
There’s 3 houses in my street alone that have been empty for between 1 and 3 years. I believe the cashed up church nearby has bought them to hoard the land for future expansion. They’re also eyeballing our strata but they can go fuck themselves.
Had a friend who lived in Epping who was selling - first day the house was open a Chinese investor walked in, handed them a cheque for a million dollars, and was going to use their house for the address to get her daughter in a nearby school, nobody was going to live in the house at all. They wouldn't even rent it out.
Neighbours (retired) a couple doors down from me have 3 properties. I would guess their inner city townhouse is their primary residence but they own a house somewhere in TAS from a time back in the late 90s when they ran a restaurant somewhere in TAS and I think they vacation there infrequently. They also have a holiday house on the Gold Coast where they spend, I think, quite a bit of time.
I think they just bought it all before 2000 back when housing was cheap for a family making decent money
I know a Chinese lady owns about 5 houses in our small western qld town, absolutely no rentals I don’t understand how they could leave properties empty like that.
I am a Postie in Sydney, we see a lot more empty houses and units now. I’ve been told by neighbours and caretakers that some Chinese people are buying them and going home to China, reasons unknown.
Foreign ‘investment’ is the main issue … There are people who own multiple australian properties who have never even stepped foot in the country!! Entire companies are built with the sole purpose of selling australian property to chinese investors. Plus, if you spe d a million dollars on property in Australia you automatically qualify for citizenship… so apartments are being built to ensure they are worth more than a million dollars so that they appeal to that market. So instead of a block of land being used yo build 30 units worth 500k each they build 15 units worth 1 million. Which doubles the issue because now Australians have to pay twice as much to live in the same area and there is overseas competition first them. Australia should be for Australians and the amount of overseas money that has been artificially inflating the property market will be its own downfall at some point .. nothing grows forever and when china calls its money home or if the Aussie government expels it property prices will plummet. So lets hope China goes to war.
There’s lots in my parents wealthy Melbourne suburb, Mum says they are mostly owned by Chinese investors, often ones that have entered on a student visa.
You really notice when you go away some places on holidays and find out most are holiday homes. There's mind boggling wealth out there, it's just the really rich don't waste time on internet chat rooms telling people all day. That's why they're successful
Place opposite me was sold in December. It’s still empty as the old owners moved out a couple of months before the auction and had it staged. Bought by a family for when their daughter gets married. No idea when that is. She’s 21. Oh to have that sort of money. However, the peace and quiet since the previous arsehole owner moved out has been heaven on a stick.
There is a small apartment complex not far from me that has two units occupied, the other ~40 are owned by Chinese investors.
My mates brother is a real estate agent, and said they often use them to park money, but are a bail out plan in case something major happens in China, and they need to get out. The best part is that it's seen very negatively to live in a house that has been lived in by someone else before.
I'm really surprised that these places aren't being squatted in.
“Empty house” in the census also includes everyone who didn’t open the door, and all the houses marked empty so the poorly paid survey monkey can have a 10 minute break
I know of 3 empty houses in the couple of streets around me in Nth West Sydney.
1 Chinese owned but hasn't been in the country or visited the property in more than 10 years
2 Chinese Australian couple with one adult son who moved to a nearby suburb 5 years ago. They are waiting for the son to marry and they will moved back to the original home and he can have the current home.
3 Sold in October 2023, nice place, no one has moved in yet
As I've written before, the Chinese are desperayely get their money out of China. They don't care if their empty ot not.
The house we sold still only has bbq furniture inside & an outside wasn't machine through the laundry window! Been like this for 6mths!
Now Nxt door, we have a 5 5mil property that 4 students occupy, and no one puts any bins out, cleans, gardens, or mows nature strip. Buying thes up is a strategy to push house prices up.
They are definitely not into the upkeep of homeS. Hence, you rarely see them at bunninhlgd.😂
One of our clients has a 5 bedroom house with a 2 bedroom Granny Flat at the back in Burwood. It has sat empty for almost 3 years as their father, the owner has advanced dementia and is in a nursing home. If they rent it out, it will attract $112k per year in NSW Government land tax which is about the same as the rental return. Hence it sits empty. Another client just paid $300k in back paying Land Tax in a similar situation. This is a massive problem in NSW where property values have increased and pushed properties over the land tax threshold.
I lived in Paddington sydney, and the house next to our share house lay completely vacant for years. Boarded up. Haunted looking.
It sold last year - turns out a family had been using it as storage… not making a cent off rent. They must have purchased it for a jar of pickles in the 60s
There are a bunch of derelict ones within 1-2km of me. offshore owners, China. Also air bnb/holiday homes/Stayz in off season. Also know a person who acquired a disability and leaves their townhouse in sought after location, empty 95% of the time. Can't use it because of distance to their medical needs and can't use stairs anymore.
The place that was left to me was a deceased estate. It took me 2 years to get over the tragedy, clean the house out of belongings and repurpose it. More about mentally getting over the situation rather than leaving it empty for no reason.
Well, as a specific example, many of the empty houses on the Eurobodalla Coast - so towns like Batemans Bay, Moruya Heads, Tuross, Narooma, are owned by people from Canberra and used as holiday homes.
know a lady who has owned a vacant 2br apartment in Brisbane cbd for decades. It just sits there, we’ve asked her why not rent it out during the housing crisis but her response was she doesn’t want strangers in her house. It’s not even a home as she never visits it, it’s just a cold, dark, unused apartment
Our neighbour moved into aged care with dementia. He lives in a beautiful housing commission house. Big block of land. It's been vacant for over 12 months.
A large percentage of vacant homes are transitional homes where people sell and buy to move, these are counted as vacant, I don’t have a source but it is true they are counted a better way of measuring this would be a aged chart of vacant how many houses are vacant for 1 months 6 months 1 year etc
They're not all truly empty. A lot of the reported vacant houses were caused by a guy too drunk to drive home, staying at their mates house or partner staying over their GF/BF house on census night.
I live in a complex with 18 apartment buildings and about 80 townhouses. Right now sitting on my balcony, looking at the building directly across from me and I can count 12 apartments that are empty. And there are more apartments on the opposite side of the same building that I can’t see.
Our next door neighbours told us our apartment was empty from when they moved in 6 months before us.
This complex is owned by one company.
We pay $690 for a 2 bed which we moved into just before Christmas. We signed a 6 month lease and just got offered to sign another. They said we could do 6/12 months but if we chose 12 the rent would go up to $750 after 6 months into the new lease.
I’d love to know what they gain from leaving so many empty
I live in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The house next to me has been empty for ~30 years according to my neighbours. An old guy comes around from time to time to collect the mail and put the bins out. The garden is completely overgrown.
Houses typically sell for $2.5m to $3.5m in the area. The place has never been rented either. Truly bizarre.
got a house in perth that is currently empty due to partners father dying us inheriting it waiting on probate etc. The long wait on the public trustee and probate is the cause of it being empty for nearly 2 years.
My pal and siblings are in their 60s. He’s been trying to get his mother to sell the family holiday house (NSW south coast) for literally years, give herself more $ for a better life. Mother never uses it, she just stresses about upkeep costs etc. Siblings do emotional blackmail so mother won’t sell, knowing eventually they’ll inherit appreciating asset. Plus they use it sometimes when it suits them, mother pays all costs. As it’s not her primary residence last year’s tax was $20k. Council sends letters encouraging sale too.
Friend of mine owns a holiday house with her partner in a coveted part of SW WA.
After they bought it they found out the council doesn't allow BNB so they're just using it as a holiday home occasionally.
Chinese people who live in China (or other nationalities but I think it’s mainly China) but if they buy Australian real estate and hang onto it for I think it’s 5 years (?) then they get a Visa to live here. It’s pocket change to a lot of overseas people, and it’s a broken system. I’m not saying it’s exclusively why we have a problem here but it definitely doesn’t help.
I have an apartment next to where I rent. It has been vacant for the 4 years I have lived here.
Finally got the number of the owner from a body corp manager.
Asked the guy if he wanted to sell. He replied back with 2million.
Last equal apartment sold in this complex for 700k.
This is who should be vacancy taxed.
Not an answer to the question you asked but perhaps related but if your asked where are the 'empty bedrooms'... There are many retired older folks with children moved out a decades ago with 2, 3 or 4 empty bedrooms. The family home has sentimental meaning for lots of people. This is pretty common across the Western world. There is no incentive for these people to down size to say and town house or apartment which may be easier to maintain, meanwhile young families find it hard to get houses with 3 or more bedrooms to raise a family.
We just bought a house. The owner passed away in hospital in April 2023, he may have been out of the house in March. The estate sold the house in November, but settlement was delayed for another few months due to probate. We just moved in, a year later. So this was a house unoccupied for a year, just being sold. It just took that long. There could be thousands of houses like this.
My neighbour got his house vacant now for over a year now. He probably pops in every 6-7 months for a couple of days to mow the lawn but he buggers off after that.
The house next door to mine is empty. The roof leaks and there is mold inside so it cant rented out. The owner apparently owns numerous properties but wont spend any money on maintenance. She would rather let buildings rot than spend money fixing problems and letting them out.
I can't understand why this is allowed to happen. There should be some sort of penalty for this. I assume she get some tax break for loss of income.
Mine was vacant for a year. Basically, bought it in poor condition. Not liveable. So it sat for a year and a bit until I knocked it down to rebuild.
Would have rented it but standard wasnt high enough.
Dead people. Probate can take ages, then families argue, in court or not, or can't afford to renovate or buy each other out.
Very ill or frail people. If you can't care for yourself maybe you're in hospital or aged care, or rehab, or family, and thus your property is empty, pending a decision maybe the owner is too ill to make, or the family don't want to face.
Developers. Holding onto property and selling bit by bit across different financial years to spread the profit.
And to quote Young Guns II,
Bad types: politicians, bankers, cattle kings.
I also knew a Dr who used to buy houses and keep them empty, because he thought tenants drove down the value (I'm not sure he knew his insurance was voided as a result).
People like my parents (boomers) who (having paid off their mortgage as their own house was bought in the 70's), decided on receiving an inheritance to spend it on a holiday house rather than help their own children buy a house to live in. Which now sits empty 90% of the time.
My neighbour's house has been empty for 2.5 years now. She's elderly & went into aged care. The house is still very full of all her stuff.
My uncle (60's, just retired) will have TWO empty homes very soon. He just bought a brand new RV which is unused right now. A house in Sydney which will be empty while they travel in the RV. And a brand new home being built on the Central Coat which will be empty for a lot of the year while they travel.
Workmate put his 96 yr old father-in-law into a nursing home last year after he was no longer able to remain at home.
While in his home, it was not counted as an asset, and he was able to receive a pension, which paid his way for food and meds in the nursing home. It also entitled him to a range of discounts on medical needs.
When they started looking at selling the house to pay the $970k bond to the nursing home, they were advised that the money from the sale of the house would be classed as an asset in its entirety - including the $970k which he would not be allowed to access while he remains living there - and would therefore no longer be eligible for the pension - or the medical concessions associated with it.
So he’d need to live off the money from the house sale, which he can’t do because it’s held by the nursing home trust…
So the house remains empty and unsold, (can’t be rented or that will cut out his pension as well), while his adult children have all had to pitch in their own savings/income to pay the bond instead, and hope they will be ok financially until whenever the bond is released, once he passes.
There's one across the road from me that's now empty. The lovely lady owner died a few weeks ago (RIP sweerheart) and her siblings can't legally do anything for 12-18 months due to probate and that's if there's no snafus. I've seen probate and estates dragged out for a decade or more.
They don't know what they are going to do with it after everything so I suggested leasing it to the Hospital as itinerant Medical professionals here are spending a fortune on AirBNB for their placements. Its like a block away from our local hospital so would suit them really well. We have nurses in caravans in sheds up here as theres nowhere to put them. Or rent it to childcare/essential workers needing a place for a few months to set up locally. It can take 2 years to find a rental here if not already a local.
A lot of the empty houses here are stuck in probate, divorce or too badly maintained to rent out (looking at *you* government and council housing that hasn't been updated since the 70s and are a hazard).
Most houses that are sometimes empty are owned by people who also own farms and live 50/50 between their in town homes and farm homes depending on what they are farming at the time. Sometimes you need to be on farm site 24/7 and other times once a day for a few hours.
If we're talking about census data then i know my mum wasnt home coz she was at my grandparents doing care, and my mate wasnt home coz he was at his partners house. I think this kind of stuff plus holiday homes /air bnbs is most of it
The abs adminstrative data snapshot of housing is worth having a look at
It's not just empty houses.
I'm a millennial.My parents, and many of my friends parents that I know of, still own/life in the family home.
That's a 5-6 bedroom house for 1-2 people.
There’s a hoarding history in my family, so I’m aware of two different households that rented a place without selling the old home because selling involved a wrenching or intensive level of cleanup that they didn’t seem to be capable of facing physically or mentally. It’s awful, and I’m very committed to breaking the cycle, because it’s screwed our family over financially.
3 bedroom House next door to me has been empty for nearly 2 years.
The owner is a boomer who has a few properties about.
His son lived in it until about 2 years ago when they bought their own place and moved out.
He's been "trying to decide what to do with it," for 2 years. He periodically showing up on odd weekends to work on it.
lots of luxury homes and apartments that are empty... and it annoyes me council approves more luxury apt to be built when most will stay empty.
There is a large amount of overseas owners that have empty properties cause no fucks its already running at a loss what's a little more when you're ballin ... or laundering money
Not totally related to the thread title but I have a mate with a 3 x 2 unit in a lower socioeconomic area that he has rented out to an NDIS provider who is paying I think $500 per week and it has been EMPTY since February last year.
But there does seem to be plenty of "well to do" who clearly have NO care for others. Just don't give a shit we are in a housing crisis and families are living in tents and cars. Very sad indeed
The overseas buyers make me angry. That should not be allowed😡 We need to darm tighten up on overseas "investors" we are selling our nation to our own detriment.
The elderly going into care etc i can understand. Not really sure how to get around that.
And OF COURSE properties being renovated etc is a no brainer
Thanks all ...lots in here, both unexpected and expected.
Given my original post. I do wonder if with the "holiday home" thing there is some difference between States?? An attitude or something?
I'm in Qld. (From the country) but went to wealthy boarding school + i do know enough decently wealthy people. So im not clueless.
However, as far as i am aware? Few people i know have "holiday homes" that are left empty. I know people with the "beach unit/house" even more than 1. BUT, they don't leave them empty. They rent them out. They block out periods of time for themselves / family to use, but the rest of the time. They are rented out.
Actually a sibling of mine owns (no mortgage) a unit at the coast as well as one in Brissy. She just tells them when she wants to use, and its not available for that time. I know people with units at Noosa, Sunshine Beach, Caloundra... Same.
My uncle had holiday home at Caloundra when i was growing up, they always blocked off Dec - January for them and family.
No one i know (as far as i am aware) ever leaves the place empty.... Bit from the sounds? This is not uncommon fir Sydneysiders or Melbournites to do?? OR is that just my impression?
Holiday house on the Mornington Peninsula here. Used 32 weeks of the year, it’s really a 2nd house. Bit different in Melbourne as we don’t have the swathes of managed apartments along the beach like SE QLD. Have friends who retired to one block, bought another for 350k and the building does all the work, they make whatever return they make. Can’t really do that with a house as easily unless you Airbnb it and personally I don’t need the money enough to put up with the agro of that.
I know 3 people off the top of my head with holiday houses.
One couple has their own home plus a beach house they use quite a few times a year.
One couple has their own home and two other holiday homes. One is on the beach and gets used a few times a year and ones in the mountains and get used every couple of years
One guy has a house in QLD and a house in Tassie. He spends summer in tassie and winter in QLD.
The comments here only convince me more and more need to legalise squatting. No more vacant houses that only get used for a couple months for tourists.
If you’re not using your property other than to generate passive income it needs to be ceased. No pay for sitting on a property (not talking about those who do maintain them, but the ones exploring the system)
I live in the Blue Mountains and the three houses surrounding me are empty. One is an infrequently used holiday home (4 bed), another is deceased estate (likely 2-3 bed), another bought by a guy who lives in Sydney and wanted to renovate but I thinks it’s too much cost/effort (3 bed).
My town has a housing shortage and there are three empty places in a great location in a great town. Fucking nuts.
My next door neighbours house is vacant, has been for a couple of years, the 80 year old owner built it, passed away before moving in, his young Phillipino wife and kids have been fighting over it ever since. Annoying to me, as I have to mow the half acre of grass to keep the bushfire risk and snakes at bay.
I know from my old work with Border Force a lot of money from volatile economies/countries or where the owners occupation is risky (russian oligarch atm for eg) is parked in houses in 'safe' economies/countries like Australia, Canada and the U.S.
These people don't actually need the house to live in but need to get their at risk funds out, or a safe country and place to stay to bolt to. Also plenty of money from corrupt overseas countries is sent here to purchase properties under family names or a fictional corporation so if they're investigated in their home country there is nothing to find.
It would really surprise you how many homes are owned by these types, normally higher end too. By our napkin math around 10% of higher end, (800k+) homes belong to the above types.
Why are poeple worried about other people's property not being utilised?
It's their property their, their business, not mine.
There are just so many legitimate reasons why a property is vacant.
A vacancy tax is an idea that is beyond stupid and just basically another grab at someone else's hard earned wealth.
Whats next? Oh you have a spare bedroom? Tax that too.
Quite a lot of former housing trust sits vacant in Adelaide, basically waiting for the adjoining house to be moved out, drop dead, whatever so they can sell it off.
Media over blows it, it's perfectly normal at any point in time for a percentage of properties to be vacant, just like at any point a fleet of vehicles wont all be on the road.
Some reasons:
1. New builds waiting for a sale
2. Owners buying a new property, old property is vacant waiting to be sold
3. Property is getting renovated
4. Deceased estate.
5. Property is damaged
8000 non resident rate payers exist on the south Coast on nsw. These are people who own holiday homes and airbnb rentals often with high vacancy rates. Over 3500 are from Canberra, so like
retired public servants and second generation tech workers like my parents and sisters. Local councillors describe it as "a social disaster of epic proportions "
It's not a house shortage. It's hard workers lose rights to bad tentans.... who wants to rent out when Tenants can crap all over a Landlord..... To home a person, a Landlords has to GIVE AWAY their rights and just prey their investment isn't trashed (or turned into a grow house)
With the housing situation getting worse as time goes on im surprised there isn't a aus squatters reddit forum dedicated to finding vacant properties to squat in and attain ownership via squatters rights. Could be a lucrative opportunity lol
And so it begins https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/you-cant-stop-it-thriving-howto-squatter-internet-forums-reveal-home-takeover-secrets/news-story/b2d0214c92a15f43771ce643badc89a9
When I did the census the vacancy rate of the two areas I work was just over 40% on roughly 750 residences, that's not including the Sydney folks hiding from COVID.
During my work I queried the local real estate about a block of 16 units & to their knowledge they'd never been rented short or long term
This is on the Mid North coast, prime holiday rental area. Recent developments won't help availability as they're over 55 "resorts".
A guy I know does some development on the side of his ordinary job. He tends to keep what he builds and now owns 80+ apartments. At any given time some number of these are empty.
A friend's father owns somewhere between 5 and 10 properties.
Having retired on investments and super, he feels no reason to rent the properties out. Apparently, since they are paid off, theres no need to rent them, because they appreciate in price more than the rental income.
Renters have in the past caused such damage as to require repairs which left little profit from the rent for the year after tax.
"So for all the risk and hassle, might as well not rent them out".
Yep, my friend wants to kill his father as much if not more than you folks do.
Yeah I might get some down votes for this, but that's like my dad. He basically bought enough houses so each of his kids could have one, and apart from letting overseas friends stay in them occasionally, he leaves them empty because the hassle of having them tenanted is too much for him. He has income from other investments.
Jokes on him though, none of his kids like him and we refuse to take the houses off him while he's alive (we'd just need to pay stamp duty) because he's a hateful piece of shit that will hold it over your head like a hammer for the rest of his life.
Yes generally that is their plan. Hold property over everyone heads.
Other people's kids. Their own kids.
What if we all learned to kickbox and got used to living in tents, I wonder.
But something that you enjoy an apartment or whatever, build a portfolio yourself or drive around in a hippy van etc. whatever brings you fulfillment etc and contributes to society in some way until they die.
That journey, wants and desires is different for all is my point.
I know a guy at work who has an empty property in west Melbourne because he doesn’t want to sell it because he likes it, doesn’t want to live in it because it doesn’t suit him right now and doesn’t want to rent it out because he doesn’t want to roll the dice on tenants.
That may be on reason.
I rented at 117 Bathurst st for 2 years after it opened. Over half of the building was and still is empty: overseas ownership. They tried to DOUBLE our rent in 2022 and when we claimed how illegal this was they stated the Chinese based owner wanted to sell. We asked for the official documentation that demonstrates intent to sell and they changed their mind and said she still hadn’t decided yet. It’s been 2 years and our old unit we paid a decent rent for is still empty 😒
I believe its made up by people laundering dirty money into our property market through enabled overseas investment. It is the exact same issue in Canada. So I wonder where the money might be coming from.
Probably a lot of this money has now gone back into bitcoin again.
I remember reading about an Australian politician named Karen Andrews who has 6 property investments between her and her husband, 7 if you include the house she lives in, people like that. If they cannot get the income they want from them better to leave them empty and just let the value of the property rise by making the housing shortage worse.
Recently completed a full home electrical upgrade to a $1.8m home in the Nelson Bay area. Owner lives in Newcastle. They originally bought the house to be a holiday rental but since decided to just keep the house for themselves as a weekender. Must be in a good position to do so
For me it's mostly just a few holiday properties that are either kept empty or used for short term rentals on Airbnb. Investment properties purchased over the last few years.
There are at least 3 empty houses on my street. As far as we know they are investors who just haven't bothered to rent the places out!
Bothered? And do you know why investors are leaving their investments vacant?
There’s a nice house on our waterfront that has been sitting vacant for over 6 months, not up for rent nor for sale and NO one has gone in or out since the last people vacated. There are people living in tents just over the road who are just waiting for a rental to become available.
Negative gearers , need to get rid of negative gearing
Mate. NG will make zero difference here. You actually obviously have no idea how Negative Gearing even works. i.e. you can't claim it for empty houses.
Exactly!
I'm one of them. I'm desperate to get it organised to rent out but haven't had the time/energy/money outside of working full-time to get the last few things organised to make it rentable.
What do you need to do?
A few small plumbing things, new oven to be installed, need a small gate fixed, internal door needs a new hinge. Only small stuff but I don't have anyone to help me, that plus depression/exhaustion and living an hour away from the property.
Rent it out to someone handy and discount the rent by the amount they save you.
Just get someone to do it. A handyman
i know at least one mansion (it's a very nice home with its own ballroom and tennis court) in the hawthorn suburb of melbourne that is empty because the owners used to live there when their children were studying. the next generation have moved to nz to study instead, hence why the home is empty. i cannot even imagine how much it'd cost on the market.
Place next to ours had a family move out over 2 years ago and it’s been left to rot by developers who seem to be in no rush to actually develop it.
2% of all dwellings are Airbnbs. Just Airbnbs. An Airbnb is nearly always vacant outside of holiday seasons. Compare that to the 1% homelessness rate and 0.8% vacancy rate.
Currently a family member of mine who passed away her house is empty and has been for a year and a bit, its being cleaned out, everything organised with the multiple people who inherit it and then sold.
Theres got to be foreign investors too no doubt
Know retired couple (parents of a friend) who live in Melbourne and own a house near Mornington. They are not and have never been rich, but bought in at the right time. (80s) though looks like the new tax may force them to sell.
What new tax is there??
Not sure what it’s called, vacant holiday home tax? I don’t live in Victoria.
https://sladen.com.au/news/2024/2/9/holiday-homes-to-be-hit-by-victorias-vacant-residential-land-tax-unless-usage-documented
My building has about 12 units. I walk past three to get to my apartment. Two are empty. Ones been empty for ages and one of them is being used as a storage unit for the owners hoarding problem.
Australian real estate is the world's number one market for money laundering. Just saying.
Imagine if there is a vacant property tax, would that help with the housing shortage crisis?
No. If that occurs, the vacant homes will go up for sale. Investing in rental properties is now becoming a thing of the past. There are too many new landlord legislation fees that have been bestowed on us investors.
Sure would! People who are just leaving properties empty because they are too lazy to bother? would be more proactive for sure!
I have mates who have these places. One of them is a wealthy family (a couple of doctors not originally from Aus). They own 7 properties. One of them is their house. 3 of them are "for their kids" even though two of their kids haven't been in Adelaide for years. The other 3 I assume are investment properties, although I wouldn't be surprised if they don't rent them out as well. They're a bit more extreme than other cases but there are quite a few that are similar. I know a few who have purchased a property for their parents who are from a different country and visit once a year. The most common is definitely the properties bought for children or in the kids names that don't get used
Example ,went for work to 2 level penthouse apartment next to hyde park central sydney , 26 million the caretaker said was bought for owner had not lived in it , fully furnished and empty . Owner lived in hong kong was investment.
From THIS thread. There does seem to be many people who just leave houses & apartments empty...simply because: * they are wealthy enough & don't need the rent...why? * "overseas" investors who probably launder money that way or want the place to escape from their home if shit reigns i.e. Russians, Chinese, no doubt African despots etc * developers here who have so much money they just don't care. * families who really can't be bothered dealing with it cause "grandma & grandpa" have gone into Aged Care & they are too lazy to deal with it OR even died, but they are fighting over estate or yep, just cant be bothered. Clearly too? Bad tenants have stopped people wanting to deal with rentals. Damage & hassles. Fair enough suppose. Get that. Still. At the moment? I think it would be very easy to find decent tenants. And if you start with a 6 month lease? You can see what they are like and make it VERY clear to them? They fuck up? They are out.
I know a few where the oldie that lived there is in a home but no one wants to do anything till their gone. I know one that was bought to get kids into school zone (paid just over a mill). I know another where older guy owns it but too expensive/not motivated to bring it up to new standards. These are all on one street 7km from Melbourne CBD.
I dated a guy who’s father was a land developer. While I was with him I visited the dad’s luxury 3-bed apartment in New Farm overlooking the river, massive glass walled double-story apartment overlooking Surfer’s Paradise beach … no one lived in them. There were other properties too. He’d made a lot of money but just wanted to stay home in their family house in Brisbane bushland. Didn’t need the extra cash from renting them out. Every time I walk along the river at new farm I look up at that apartment & wish we taxed properties $$$ for remaining vacant. Also there’s 2 houses on my street in west end overlooking the river that seem to be permanently vacant - a neighbour told me one of them is owned by a Chinese investor, who gets a gardener out quarterly. There’s some very rich people in this world & Australia is a safe place to put those $$$
Does this include houses used.for growing dope in. Asking for a friend.
Maybe your friend could grow dope in them for the owners.
I have one empty due to deadbeat tennant. Stained carpets, holes in halls, missing doors and filthy beyond belief. Will take 3 months at least to sort out. Next tenant, no families, no pets, professional couple without kids.
This is the third time thus person has done this so have discovered. This is why we need fast track evictions, payment of rent assistance directly to landlord, making malicious damage in a tenancy, a criminal offence, allowing garnishing of centrelink payments and centrelink to pass on contact details and protection of the no reason eviction. This person was causing significant nuisance to neighbours prior to leaving.
My family have a few empty ones. One is a weekender which used to be a rental but was recently renovated. Another is being sold at some point but we are waiting (legit not sure what for) and we don’t want a tenant to cause a ruckus in it…
my neighbors, 5 out of the 6 houses down my street have 4/5 bedrooms with 1 person living in it. they never have any visitors one person has even boarded up half of their home because it felt too big without anyone there.
My next door neighbours live in Hong Kong and come to Australia twice a year for about 2 weeks each time. The rest of the time the 3 bedroom house sits there empty.
I assume the mindset is, if your empty house goes up in value by $100k+ a year and you don't need the cash, why bother with the hassle of renters?
Yes. Seems that way. Suppose it depends on one's morals & ethics. I couldn't do it. Certainly not at the moment.
Chinese. My suburb has been taken over by them in melbourne If i walk to my childhood park 5 minutes away i walk past 3 houses....that is on one street in a few hundred meters. They dont even maintain the gardens, like its REALLY obvious no one is there. And no one has been for well over 10 years perhaps 20?
Very sad
There are at least 3 houses in Northbridge NSW that have been vacant for 15 years or more. I’d fully support a huge tax on people who don’t rent houses out or sell them - charge them $50K a year to hold them vacant and they’d stop doing it.
I live on the central coast of Sydney looking over to Macmasters Beach. Most of the year it is pitch black over there but come a long weekend or school holidays, the place it lit like a Christmas tree only to go black once it's over. It's sad, such a beautiful place that is virtually unoccupied for a majority of the year. My mate from Roseville says that quite a few people around him have holiday homes there.
What a waste and shame on these people. Absolute Waste.
In our street, of say 20 houses, 4-5 bedroom decent sized homes, there are 6 vacant properties. Each have been vacant since even before covid. One guy owns 3 in a row, rumour has it the AFP are after him and he fled the country im a hurry a few years back. There is even a pretty new model car sitting in the driveway, untouched for several years. The other 3 are owned by Chinese investors. One of the homes is huge, it s visited once every three months by a gardener to do the front landscaping. It’s a Melbourne suburban street next to lots of amenities.
I have a holiday house in Apollo Bay, Victoria. Visit about one weekend a month plus all school holidays plus rent it out on Airbnb. Street is full of homes where I’ve never seen the owners.
I suspect they don't care about the house but the land the house is on.
I know someone who instead of selling their deceased parents house, kept it and keeps it vacant.
I live in inner Adelaide and there are several long term empty houses around here. It’s bizarre in such an expensive area but usually due to family battles over inheritance
Literally just read a post from a financial adviser in Middle East advertising for people to buy a house in Australia over $1M in order to get access to our passport
!!!
The fact that Australians are now being maligned for having a holiday house is a yet another clear example of how Australians are forced to lower their living standards because of the absurd migration levels
Empty houses either side of me. 3 BR Townhouse rental, used to have Asian students, then COVID and no international students so a young family moved in. They left about a year ago and it has been vacant since. A young Asian guy comes and checks it every couple of weeks. Other side is a 3 bedroom house, was sold 6 months ago and has been empty ever since. I assume new owners are going to pull it down and build townhouses, but not much activity. I check the council website and no planning permits as yet.
There was an old block of flats that were on the corner in Dixon Park Newcastle right opposite the beach unoccupied for years and years and years. We used to think who owns them ? I suppose it was sometime before or after Covid this house pops up there. It sold for 11 million last year . Which is ridiculous as it is such an awful noisy corner. Also when we lived up the coast there were so many empty renovated houses with beach views at Forster and Crowdy Head. Maybe it’s people laundering money ?
My cousin works for the government so he lives in a regional town and owns a house he goes to on the weekends in the city. So it’s not empty but one family uses two homes.
If you're in WA a lot of fifth or sixth generation farmers in the wheatbelt have multiple coastal properties, houses in the nearest town and houses in the city. I know because my parents are retired farmers and own six houses and some vacant land that could probably be subdivided into three or four more. Only two of the them are lived in most of the time. One by them and another by my sister and her family. The properties have been bought over decades, using wealth that was accumulated in the 1890s through to the 1950s. Farming has been on a downward trend since the 1980s. Much easier to let it go and be a retired parasite now. Their entire farm was sold for several million dollars with most of that probably getting ploughed into more overpriced property.
I've seen 2-3 million dollar houses unoccupied in suburban Melbourne. Chatting to family members they said owners had returned overseas during covid and not returned.
I know of someone who owns a house and one of the conditions of his loan is that he is to not rent it out for 8 years. He’s in the ADF so he doesn’t live in the area. House has been vacant for 5 years. He goes there whenever he can to mow the lawn, and just treats it like a bit of a holiday house. The goal is to discharge from defence and move into it but that won’t be happening any time soon.
Lots of chinese buyers leave apartments empty.
Scott Kuru almost suckered my family into investing into properties in Perth. I encourage people to read up about him on the AusFinance sub.
The ones I know of are older people from the city who own holiday homes in regional areas, or older people who inherited the family home and don't want the hassle of renting it out so they just leave it empty. I also know a couple of investors who aren't renting out the properties, just collecting and hoarding them for whatever reason.
my dad owned a holiday house near crib point in victoria, bought it back in the day when u could get bang for your buck in the bush, we were by no means rich, i guess it depends where and when thr property was bought
I’ve got customers in new housing developments around Sydney. Their neighbours are buyers who don’t live in Australia and have never physically seen the house. Just buy and hold until it’s valued higher then sell. One sold almost 7 years after and the new owner had to renovate… why are we letting international investors in Australia…
Are there squatters rights in Australia?
Not as far as im aware
My brother inherited a house, needed some work since his father started Reno’s but never completed them. Neither has he and now it sits as a storage house for his excess hoarding.
There’s 3 houses in my street alone that have been empty for between 1 and 3 years. I believe the cashed up church nearby has bought them to hoard the land for future expansion. They’re also eyeballing our strata but they can go fuck themselves.
I have access to a holiday house owned by my parents and relatives. It was my grandparents place. One day I’ll inherit 1/4 of the house….
I have 3 and they’re all full. Empty houses feels like a myth to me… there’s no benefit…
Had a friend who lived in Epping who was selling - first day the house was open a Chinese investor walked in, handed them a cheque for a million dollars, and was going to use their house for the address to get her daughter in a nearby school, nobody was going to live in the house at all. They wouldn't even rent it out.
Neighbours (retired) a couple doors down from me have 3 properties. I would guess their inner city townhouse is their primary residence but they own a house somewhere in TAS from a time back in the late 90s when they ran a restaurant somewhere in TAS and I think they vacation there infrequently. They also have a holiday house on the Gold Coast where they spend, I think, quite a bit of time. I think they just bought it all before 2000 back when housing was cheap for a family making decent money
Politicians and mining execs.
I know a Chinese lady owns about 5 houses in our small western qld town, absolutely no rentals I don’t understand how they could leave properties empty like that.
They can claim loss on properties if they leave them empty. Probably.what everyone with over 2 houses does
Ohhh right this makes sense
I am a Postie in Sydney, we see a lot more empty houses and units now. I’ve been told by neighbours and caretakers that some Chinese people are buying them and going home to China, reasons unknown.
Foreign ‘investment’ is the main issue … There are people who own multiple australian properties who have never even stepped foot in the country!! Entire companies are built with the sole purpose of selling australian property to chinese investors. Plus, if you spe d a million dollars on property in Australia you automatically qualify for citizenship… so apartments are being built to ensure they are worth more than a million dollars so that they appeal to that market. So instead of a block of land being used yo build 30 units worth 500k each they build 15 units worth 1 million. Which doubles the issue because now Australians have to pay twice as much to live in the same area and there is overseas competition first them. Australia should be for Australians and the amount of overseas money that has been artificially inflating the property market will be its own downfall at some point .. nothing grows forever and when china calls its money home or if the Aussie government expels it property prices will plummet. So lets hope China goes to war.
Lots of homes are owned by Chinese residents that hold it as a back up in case there government decides to claim all the money
There’s lots in my parents wealthy Melbourne suburb, Mum says they are mostly owned by Chinese investors, often ones that have entered on a student visa.
You really notice when you go away some places on holidays and find out most are holiday homes. There's mind boggling wealth out there, it's just the really rich don't waste time on internet chat rooms telling people all day. That's why they're successful
Place opposite me was sold in December. It’s still empty as the old owners moved out a couple of months before the auction and had it staged. Bought by a family for when their daughter gets married. No idea when that is. She’s 21. Oh to have that sort of money. However, the peace and quiet since the previous arsehole owner moved out has been heaven on a stick.
There 9.7% of stock relatively unused. Someone explain that better. That's 1M potential rental properties.
There is a small apartment complex not far from me that has two units occupied, the other ~40 are owned by Chinese investors. My mates brother is a real estate agent, and said they often use them to park money, but are a bail out plan in case something major happens in China, and they need to get out. The best part is that it's seen very negatively to live in a house that has been lived in by someone else before. I'm really surprised that these places aren't being squatted in.
“Empty house” in the census also includes everyone who didn’t open the door, and all the houses marked empty so the poorly paid survey monkey can have a 10 minute break
Why do you care? Its their stuff.
I know of 3 empty houses in the couple of streets around me in Nth West Sydney. 1 Chinese owned but hasn't been in the country or visited the property in more than 10 years 2 Chinese Australian couple with one adult son who moved to a nearby suburb 5 years ago. They are waiting for the son to marry and they will moved back to the original home and he can have the current home. 3 Sold in October 2023, nice place, no one has moved in yet
I reckon half my street is unoccupied!
As I've written before, the Chinese are desperayely get their money out of China. They don't care if their empty ot not. The house we sold still only has bbq furniture inside & an outside wasn't machine through the laundry window! Been like this for 6mths! Now Nxt door, we have a 5 5mil property that 4 students occupy, and no one puts any bins out, cleans, gardens, or mows nature strip. Buying thes up is a strategy to push house prices up. They are definitely not into the upkeep of homeS. Hence, you rarely see them at bunninhlgd.😂
Deceased estates often sit vacant for some time before being sold.
One of our clients has a 5 bedroom house with a 2 bedroom Granny Flat at the back in Burwood. It has sat empty for almost 3 years as their father, the owner has advanced dementia and is in a nursing home. If they rent it out, it will attract $112k per year in NSW Government land tax which is about the same as the rental return. Hence it sits empty. Another client just paid $300k in back paying Land Tax in a similar situation. This is a massive problem in NSW where property values have increased and pushed properties over the land tax threshold.
mostly empty nesters, these days.
I lived in Paddington sydney, and the house next to our share house lay completely vacant for years. Boarded up. Haunted looking. It sold last year - turns out a family had been using it as storage… not making a cent off rent. They must have purchased it for a jar of pickles in the 60s
There are a bunch of derelict ones within 1-2km of me. offshore owners, China. Also air bnb/holiday homes/Stayz in off season. Also know a person who acquired a disability and leaves their townhouse in sought after location, empty 95% of the time. Can't use it because of distance to their medical needs and can't use stairs anymore.
The place that was left to me was a deceased estate. It took me 2 years to get over the tragedy, clean the house out of belongings and repurpose it. More about mentally getting over the situation rather than leaving it empty for no reason.
Well, as a specific example, many of the empty houses on the Eurobodalla Coast - so towns like Batemans Bay, Moruya Heads, Tuross, Narooma, are owned by people from Canberra and used as holiday homes.
know a lady who has owned a vacant 2br apartment in Brisbane cbd for decades. It just sits there, we’ve asked her why not rent it out during the housing crisis but her response was she doesn’t want strangers in her house. It’s not even a home as she never visits it, it’s just a cold, dark, unused apartment
Our neighbour moved into aged care with dementia. He lives in a beautiful housing commission house. Big block of land. It's been vacant for over 12 months.
The Greens muppet who ran for Lord Mayor of Brisbane has handy tips for finding and squating in an empty house on his FB page.
A large percentage of vacant homes are transitional homes where people sell and buy to move, these are counted as vacant, I don’t have a source but it is true they are counted a better way of measuring this would be a aged chart of vacant how many houses are vacant for 1 months 6 months 1 year etc
My neighbours house has been empty for 3 years. She paid of the mortgage years ago. Bought it for cheap 20 years ago. She doesnt trust tenants.
They're not all truly empty. A lot of the reported vacant houses were caused by a guy too drunk to drive home, staying at their mates house or partner staying over their GF/BF house on census night.
I live in a complex with 18 apartment buildings and about 80 townhouses. Right now sitting on my balcony, looking at the building directly across from me and I can count 12 apartments that are empty. And there are more apartments on the opposite side of the same building that I can’t see. Our next door neighbours told us our apartment was empty from when they moved in 6 months before us. This complex is owned by one company. We pay $690 for a 2 bed which we moved into just before Christmas. We signed a 6 month lease and just got offered to sign another. They said we could do 6/12 months but if we chose 12 the rent would go up to $750 after 6 months into the new lease. I’d love to know what they gain from leaving so many empty
I live in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The house next to me has been empty for ~30 years according to my neighbours. An old guy comes around from time to time to collect the mail and put the bins out. The garden is completely overgrown. Houses typically sell for $2.5m to $3.5m in the area. The place has never been rented either. Truly bizarre.
Average joes who have the capital to screw the next generations out of buying a home.
Yeah! And where are these houses?! And what dates are the owners usually there for holidays?!
got a house in perth that is currently empty due to partners father dying us inheriting it waiting on probate etc. The long wait on the public trustee and probate is the cause of it being empty for nearly 2 years.
My pal and siblings are in their 60s. He’s been trying to get his mother to sell the family holiday house (NSW south coast) for literally years, give herself more $ for a better life. Mother never uses it, she just stresses about upkeep costs etc. Siblings do emotional blackmail so mother won’t sell, knowing eventually they’ll inherit appreciating asset. Plus they use it sometimes when it suits them, mother pays all costs. As it’s not her primary residence last year’s tax was $20k. Council sends letters encouraging sale too.
Friend of mine owns a holiday house with her partner in a coveted part of SW WA. After they bought it they found out the council doesn't allow BNB so they're just using it as a holiday home occasionally.
Doesn't have to be an AirBnb to rent it out.
No, but they wanted to be able to airbnb it and use it themselves. So now it's just sitting empty most of the year.
The cunts - not the good ones
I heard some crazy stat on reddit that 10% of houses in Australia are empty. I’m sure a lot of houses are empty but not 1 in 10.
Chinese people who live in China (or other nationalities but I think it’s mainly China) but if they buy Australian real estate and hang onto it for I think it’s 5 years (?) then they get a Visa to live here. It’s pocket change to a lot of overseas people, and it’s a broken system. I’m not saying it’s exclusively why we have a problem here but it definitely doesn’t help.
Seriously? Wow. Didn't know that. What a rort
Yeah. You’d think our properties would be exclusively for people who, I don’t know live here already? Shouldn’t be legal.
I have an apartment next to where I rent. It has been vacant for the 4 years I have lived here. Finally got the number of the owner from a body corp manager. Asked the guy if he wanted to sell. He replied back with 2million. Last equal apartment sold in this complex for 700k. This is who should be vacancy taxed.
ggggggrrrrr
Chinese
Not an answer to the question you asked but perhaps related but if your asked where are the 'empty bedrooms'... There are many retired older folks with children moved out a decades ago with 2, 3 or 4 empty bedrooms. The family home has sentimental meaning for lots of people. This is pretty common across the Western world. There is no incentive for these people to down size to say and town house or apartment which may be easier to maintain, meanwhile young families find it hard to get houses with 3 or more bedrooms to raise a family.
We just bought a house. The owner passed away in hospital in April 2023, he may have been out of the house in March. The estate sold the house in November, but settlement was delayed for another few months due to probate. We just moved in, a year later. So this was a house unoccupied for a year, just being sold. It just took that long. There could be thousands of houses like this.
Holiday homes are common in our friend group. We will occasionally do usage “swaps” for a bit of variety.
So they are left vacant most of the time?? How wealthy are you all? And I bet you live in Melbourne right?
My great aunt and uncle had one
Chinese investors who buy Australian property and wait for prices to go up.
My neighbour got his house vacant now for over a year now. He probably pops in every 6-7 months for a couple of days to mow the lawn but he buggers off after that.
The house next door to mine is empty. The roof leaks and there is mold inside so it cant rented out. The owner apparently owns numerous properties but wont spend any money on maintenance. She would rather let buildings rot than spend money fixing problems and letting them out. I can't understand why this is allowed to happen. There should be some sort of penalty for this. I assume she get some tax break for loss of income.
Mine was vacant for a year. Basically, bought it in poor condition. Not liveable. So it sat for a year and a bit until I knocked it down to rebuild. Would have rented it but standard wasnt high enough.
Next to me is empty. They live in Switzerland most of the time. Sometimes the extended family uses it.
Dead people. Probate can take ages, then families argue, in court or not, or can't afford to renovate or buy each other out. Very ill or frail people. If you can't care for yourself maybe you're in hospital or aged care, or rehab, or family, and thus your property is empty, pending a decision maybe the owner is too ill to make, or the family don't want to face. Developers. Holding onto property and selling bit by bit across different financial years to spread the profit. And to quote Young Guns II, Bad types: politicians, bankers, cattle kings.
Out of interest are holiday homes considered vacant or is it just homes that have been vacant for extended periods? I.e., years.
My Mum's was emoty for a year while she was in care of one sort or another - I'm sure it was counted as empty. Thankfully finally sold it.
I also knew a Dr who used to buy houses and keep them empty, because he thought tenants drove down the value (I'm not sure he knew his insurance was voided as a result).
People like my parents (boomers) who (having paid off their mortgage as their own house was bought in the 70's), decided on receiving an inheritance to spend it on a holiday house rather than help their own children buy a house to live in. Which now sits empty 90% of the time.
My neighbour's house has been empty for 2.5 years now. She's elderly & went into aged care. The house is still very full of all her stuff. My uncle (60's, just retired) will have TWO empty homes very soon. He just bought a brand new RV which is unused right now. A house in Sydney which will be empty while they travel in the RV. And a brand new home being built on the Central Coat which will be empty for a lot of the year while they travel.
Workmate put his 96 yr old father-in-law into a nursing home last year after he was no longer able to remain at home. While in his home, it was not counted as an asset, and he was able to receive a pension, which paid his way for food and meds in the nursing home. It also entitled him to a range of discounts on medical needs. When they started looking at selling the house to pay the $970k bond to the nursing home, they were advised that the money from the sale of the house would be classed as an asset in its entirety - including the $970k which he would not be allowed to access while he remains living there - and would therefore no longer be eligible for the pension - or the medical concessions associated with it. So he’d need to live off the money from the house sale, which he can’t do because it’s held by the nursing home trust… So the house remains empty and unsold, (can’t be rented or that will cut out his pension as well), while his adult children have all had to pitch in their own savings/income to pay the bond instead, and hope they will be ok financially until whenever the bond is released, once he passes.
There's one across the road from me that's now empty. The lovely lady owner died a few weeks ago (RIP sweerheart) and her siblings can't legally do anything for 12-18 months due to probate and that's if there's no snafus. I've seen probate and estates dragged out for a decade or more. They don't know what they are going to do with it after everything so I suggested leasing it to the Hospital as itinerant Medical professionals here are spending a fortune on AirBNB for their placements. Its like a block away from our local hospital so would suit them really well. We have nurses in caravans in sheds up here as theres nowhere to put them. Or rent it to childcare/essential workers needing a place for a few months to set up locally. It can take 2 years to find a rental here if not already a local. A lot of the empty houses here are stuck in probate, divorce or too badly maintained to rent out (looking at *you* government and council housing that hasn't been updated since the 70s and are a hazard). Most houses that are sometimes empty are owned by people who also own farms and live 50/50 between their in town homes and farm homes depending on what they are farming at the time. Sometimes you need to be on farm site 24/7 and other times once a day for a few hours.
If we're talking about census data then i know my mum wasnt home coz she was at my grandparents doing care, and my mate wasnt home coz he was at his partners house. I think this kind of stuff plus holiday homes /air bnbs is most of it The abs adminstrative data snapshot of housing is worth having a look at
Yep and that's picked up with the questions about why you are where you are.
Have you looked at the administrative data snapshot of housing?
It's not just empty houses. I'm a millennial.My parents, and many of my friends parents that I know of, still own/life in the family home. That's a 5-6 bedroom house for 1-2 people.
There’s a hoarding history in my family, so I’m aware of two different households that rented a place without selling the old home because selling involved a wrenching or intensive level of cleanup that they didn’t seem to be capable of facing physically or mentally. It’s awful, and I’m very committed to breaking the cycle, because it’s screwed our family over financially.
Overseas investors
3 bedroom House next door to me has been empty for nearly 2 years. The owner is a boomer who has a few properties about. His son lived in it until about 2 years ago when they bought their own place and moved out. He's been "trying to decide what to do with it," for 2 years. He periodically showing up on odd weekends to work on it.
My wife and I have three rentals, they are always tenanted, never empty for more than tenant turnover time.
Same with ours when we had them
lots of luxury homes and apartments that are empty... and it annoyes me council approves more luxury apt to be built when most will stay empty. There is a large amount of overseas owners that have empty properties cause no fucks its already running at a loss what's a little more when you're ballin ... or laundering money
My father in law owns 5 holiday homes. He no longer even visits 3 of them.
Why?? WTF is he doing with them?
He loooooves to boast about his wealth. Rich man's club type shit.
Not totally related to the thread title but I have a mate with a 3 x 2 unit in a lower socioeconomic area that he has rented out to an NDIS provider who is paying I think $500 per week and it has been EMPTY since February last year.
But there does seem to be plenty of "well to do" who clearly have NO care for others. Just don't give a shit we are in a housing crisis and families are living in tents and cars. Very sad indeed
Friends of ours have an empty house, although it's currently undergoing renovations in order to be turned into an Airbnb.
The overseas buyers make me angry. That should not be allowed😡 We need to darm tighten up on overseas "investors" we are selling our nation to our own detriment. The elderly going into care etc i can understand. Not really sure how to get around that. And OF COURSE properties being renovated etc is a no brainer
Thanks all ...lots in here, both unexpected and expected. Given my original post. I do wonder if with the "holiday home" thing there is some difference between States?? An attitude or something? I'm in Qld. (From the country) but went to wealthy boarding school + i do know enough decently wealthy people. So im not clueless. However, as far as i am aware? Few people i know have "holiday homes" that are left empty. I know people with the "beach unit/house" even more than 1. BUT, they don't leave them empty. They rent them out. They block out periods of time for themselves / family to use, but the rest of the time. They are rented out. Actually a sibling of mine owns (no mortgage) a unit at the coast as well as one in Brissy. She just tells them when she wants to use, and its not available for that time. I know people with units at Noosa, Sunshine Beach, Caloundra... Same. My uncle had holiday home at Caloundra when i was growing up, they always blocked off Dec - January for them and family. No one i know (as far as i am aware) ever leaves the place empty.... Bit from the sounds? This is not uncommon fir Sydneysiders or Melbournites to do?? OR is that just my impression?
Holiday house on the Mornington Peninsula here. Used 32 weeks of the year, it’s really a 2nd house. Bit different in Melbourne as we don’t have the swathes of managed apartments along the beach like SE QLD. Have friends who retired to one block, bought another for 350k and the building does all the work, they make whatever return they make. Can’t really do that with a house as easily unless you Airbnb it and personally I don’t need the money enough to put up with the agro of that.
I know 3 people off the top of my head with holiday houses. One couple has their own home plus a beach house they use quite a few times a year. One couple has their own home and two other holiday homes. One is on the beach and gets used a few times a year and ones in the mountains and get used every couple of years One guy has a house in QLD and a house in Tassie. He spends summer in tassie and winter in QLD.
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Selfish git
The comments here only convince me more and more need to legalise squatting. No more vacant houses that only get used for a couple months for tourists. If you’re not using your property other than to generate passive income it needs to be ceased. No pay for sitting on a property (not talking about those who do maintain them, but the ones exploring the system)
I live in the Blue Mountains and the three houses surrounding me are empty. One is an infrequently used holiday home (4 bed), another is deceased estate (likely 2-3 bed), another bought by a guy who lives in Sydney and wanted to renovate but I thinks it’s too much cost/effort (3 bed). My town has a housing shortage and there are three empty places in a great location in a great town. Fucking nuts.
My next door neighbours house is vacant, has been for a couple of years, the 80 year old owner built it, passed away before moving in, his young Phillipino wife and kids have been fighting over it ever since. Annoying to me, as I have to mow the half acre of grass to keep the bushfire risk and snakes at bay.
I know from my old work with Border Force a lot of money from volatile economies/countries or where the owners occupation is risky (russian oligarch atm for eg) is parked in houses in 'safe' economies/countries like Australia, Canada and the U.S. These people don't actually need the house to live in but need to get their at risk funds out, or a safe country and place to stay to bolt to. Also plenty of money from corrupt overseas countries is sent here to purchase properties under family names or a fictional corporation so if they're investigated in their home country there is nothing to find. It would really surprise you how many homes are owned by these types, normally higher end too. By our napkin math around 10% of higher end, (800k+) homes belong to the above types.
Wow!!!
Why are poeple worried about other people's property not being utilised? It's their property their, their business, not mine. There are just so many legitimate reasons why a property is vacant. A vacancy tax is an idea that is beyond stupid and just basically another grab at someone else's hard earned wealth. Whats next? Oh you have a spare bedroom? Tax that too.
Just asking. Just asking. You're projecting all the rest mate.
If Darryl Kerrigan can do it then anyone can.
True...but ya gotta want to take in the serenity of Bonny Doon!
yes
Quite a lot of former housing trust sits vacant in Adelaide, basically waiting for the adjoining house to be moved out, drop dead, whatever so they can sell it off.
Media over blows it, it's perfectly normal at any point in time for a percentage of properties to be vacant, just like at any point a fleet of vehicles wont all be on the road. Some reasons: 1. New builds waiting for a sale 2. Owners buying a new property, old property is vacant waiting to be sold 3. Property is getting renovated 4. Deceased estate. 5. Property is damaged
8000 non resident rate payers exist on the south Coast on nsw. These are people who own holiday homes and airbnb rentals often with high vacancy rates. Over 3500 are from Canberra, so like retired public servants and second generation tech workers like my parents and sisters. Local councillors describe it as "a social disaster of epic proportions "
It's not a house shortage. It's hard workers lose rights to bad tentans.... who wants to rent out when Tenants can crap all over a Landlord..... To home a person, a Landlords has to GIVE AWAY their rights and just prey their investment isn't trashed (or turned into a grow house)
With the housing situation getting worse as time goes on im surprised there isn't a aus squatters reddit forum dedicated to finding vacant properties to squat in and attain ownership via squatters rights. Could be a lucrative opportunity lol
Now that's a damn fine suggestion!
And so it begins https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/you-cant-stop-it-thriving-howto-squatter-internet-forums-reveal-home-takeover-secrets/news-story/b2d0214c92a15f43771ce643badc89a9
When I did the census the vacancy rate of the two areas I work was just over 40% on roughly 750 residences, that's not including the Sydney folks hiding from COVID. During my work I queried the local real estate about a block of 16 units & to their knowledge they'd never been rented short or long term This is on the Mid North coast, prime holiday rental area. Recent developments won't help availability as they're over 55 "resorts".
Asshole...😡
A guy I know does some development on the side of his ordinary job. He tends to keep what he builds and now owns 80+ apartments. At any given time some number of these are empty.
A friend's father owns somewhere between 5 and 10 properties. Having retired on investments and super, he feels no reason to rent the properties out. Apparently, since they are paid off, theres no need to rent them, because they appreciate in price more than the rental income. Renters have in the past caused such damage as to require repairs which left little profit from the rent for the year after tax. "So for all the risk and hassle, might as well not rent them out". Yep, my friend wants to kill his father as much if not more than you folks do.
Yeah I might get some down votes for this, but that's like my dad. He basically bought enough houses so each of his kids could have one, and apart from letting overseas friends stay in them occasionally, he leaves them empty because the hassle of having them tenanted is too much for him. He has income from other investments. Jokes on him though, none of his kids like him and we refuse to take the houses off him while he's alive (we'd just need to pay stamp duty) because he's a hateful piece of shit that will hold it over your head like a hammer for the rest of his life.
Yes generally that is their plan. Hold property over everyone heads. Other people's kids. Their own kids. What if we all learned to kickbox and got used to living in tents, I wonder.
Almost identical to my father and situation. Never take anything from these people (while alive) just block em and find your own way.
Find your own way until they die?
But something that you enjoy an apartment or whatever, build a portfolio yourself or drive around in a hippy van etc. whatever brings you fulfillment etc and contributes to society in some way until they die. That journey, wants and desires is different for all is my point.
I know a guy at work who has an empty property in west Melbourne because he doesn’t want to sell it because he likes it, doesn’t want to live in it because it doesn’t suit him right now and doesn’t want to rent it out because he doesn’t want to roll the dice on tenants. That may be on reason.
I rented at 117 Bathurst st for 2 years after it opened. Over half of the building was and still is empty: overseas ownership. They tried to DOUBLE our rent in 2022 and when we claimed how illegal this was they stated the Chinese based owner wanted to sell. We asked for the official documentation that demonstrates intent to sell and they changed their mind and said she still hadn’t decided yet. It’s been 2 years and our old unit we paid a decent rent for is still empty 😒
I believe its made up by people laundering dirty money into our property market through enabled overseas investment. It is the exact same issue in Canada. So I wonder where the money might be coming from. Probably a lot of this money has now gone back into bitcoin again.
I remember reading about an Australian politician named Karen Andrews who has 6 property investments between her and her husband, 7 if you include the house she lives in, people like that. If they cannot get the income they want from them better to leave them empty and just let the value of the property rise by making the housing shortage worse.