Real Estate 4 Ransom from Real Estate 4 Ransom on Vimeo.

Adam Schwab wrote up our fourth report on speculative vacancies in Crikey yesterday. Shortage or glut? Feast or famine? The question of whether Australia is suffering a housing shortage continues to be hotly disputed, with the real estate and construction lobbies arguing a desperate shortage exists, while other independent bodies, such as Prosper Australia, disputing [...]

And I owned all the land, How much would I charge you for your first night’s rent? That was the statement Red Symons of ABC breakfast radio ran as a lead in to our 6.45am discussion this morning. It is also the opening line in the film, attempting to settle those who blame banking and [...]

Download the Speculative Vacancies report As written up in The Age today, p5: Speculators ‘locking up’ empty dwellings that could be homes Michelle Griffin PROPERTY speculators have locked up 46,220 empty homes in metropolitan Melbourne, the housing campaign group Earthsharing Australia says. In a documentary soon to be released, Real Estate 4 Ransom, the group [...]

“With 46,220 properties vacant in Melbourne, the myth we have a housing shortage cannot go on much longer,” Earthsharing Australia spokesperson Karl Fitzgerald said today. Earthsharing’s Speculative Vacancies report highlights that tightness in rental stock does not equate to a lack of housing. The much quoted REIV’s 1.7% vacancy rate (Nov 2010) only refers to [...]