Mike's Minute: Is the rental market in trouble or not?

So, who is right? 

"The rental market is like musical chairs". That was a headline yesterday. Landlords are offering grocery vouchers and incentives to sign up for rentals. 

But then headline number two; "Even the middle class are struggling to pay rent". 

Story number three was a report I read by JB Weir about wealth transfer, which is actually a story in itself. But the upshot is we are the 7th wealthiest country on Earth. If you do the median, i.e. half above and half below, we are the 5th wealthiest. 

So if we are so wealthy, how come we can't afford rent? 

If we can't afford rent, how come they are offering grocery vouchers to lure us in? 

The answer, of course, lies in the specifics of each story. 

The middle class line came from a unionist they called an "economist" in the story, so a man with an agenda. He cited a teacher on $60,000. Teachers don’t earn $60,000 unless there are one of the new, young ones and let's be frank, if you are new and young and on starting wages you should be flatting. 

As for the voucher story, well that is a reflection of the good news. Rentals are not rising the way they were because of supply. Thousands more houses are on the market and there are more houses than punters. That sort of supply and demand equation is good for the consumer. 

So, if you drum up the worst case scenario, guess what you will find? A problem, closely followed by a headline. 

But what of this wealth transfer? It was an interesting report showing billions is changing hands as the boomers die and the kids get the inheritance. 

Women are disproportionately benefiting over men, it will carry on well into the 2040's and is a reminder that we are not in fact the squalid, broke, backwater that many would make us out to be. 

We might be a low paid or "wage economy", but we are not as economically divided as some would make out. We are not broke and through things like housing, vast sums have been amassed. 

And it's currently being bequeathed and left to others. 

The trick is to read the detail, not fall for the headline. 

Can some not afford rent? Yes. 

But it's not the norm. That's your story. 

But then that doesn’t make a good headline. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So a question for you to start off this morning.
Who's right the rental market is like musical chairs. There's
a headline from yesterday, the rental market is like musical chairs.
Landlords are offering grocery vouchers and incentives to sign up
for rentals. But headline number two, even the middle class
are struggling to pay rent are but storry number three
a report I read by JB. We're about wealth transfer,

(00:21):
which is actually a story in itself. But upshot is
we are the seventh wealthiest country on earth. If you
do the median i e. Half above, half below, we're
the fifth wealthiest. So if we're so wealthy, how come
we can't afford rent? And if we can't afford rent,
how come the offering grocery vouchers to luris and none
of others makes sense? The answer, of course, lies in
the specifics of each story. The middle class line came

(00:42):
from a unionist. They called an economist in the story,
so a man with an agenda. Obviously he cited a
teacher on sixty thousand dollars a year. Our teachers don't
earn sixty thousand dollars a year. We'll only the new
ones do the young ones. But let's be frank, if
you are new and young and starting on those early wages,
you should be flatting. As for the about story, well
that's a reflection of the good news. Rentals are not

(01:03):
rising the way they were because of supply. Thousands more
houses are on the market. There are some more houses
than punters, so that sort of supply demand equation is
good of course for the consumer. So if you drum
up the worst case scenario, guess what you'll find a
problem closely followed by a headline. But what of this
wealth transfer? Well, interesting report. Billions is changing hands as

(01:24):
the boomers die and the kids get the inheritance. Women
are disproportionately benefiting over men. It will carry on, apparently
well into the twenty forties, and is a reminder that
we are not in fact a squalid, broke backwater that
many would make us out to be. Yes, we may
well be a low paid or low wage economy, but
we are not as economically divided as many would make out.
We are not broke, and through things like housing, vast

(01:46):
sums have been amassed and it's currently being bequeathed and
left to others. The trick is to read the detail,
not fall for the headline. Of course, can some not
afford rent, Yes, of course, but it's not the norm.
That's your story, But then that does make a good headline.
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(02:08):
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