There’s a big and growing opportunity to provide commercial-like residential leases

A change is as good as a holiday.  Well that’s how the saying goes.  

But most Aussies don’t move as often as the real estate pages and property online portals suggest.

Recent research by Roy Morgan found that two-fifths of us have not changed our home address in over a decade.

I am in that crowd.

How long Australian’s have stayed in the same house is summarised below:

• More than 10 years                   41% 
• Between 5 and 10 years           17%
• Between 3 and 5 years             10%
• Between 3 and 1 year               18%
• Less than 12 months                 14%

Not surprising is that two-thirds of those that have lived in their current home for less than 12 months were renting.

However, our research has found that many tenants are seeking what I call ‘security of tenure’.

They would like to stay longer in their current abode, but the lease structure offered is often either 6 or 12 months and landlords are looking to increase rents when the lease expires.

Sometimes that increase is sharp and often in contrast with the discussions held at the start of the lease.

As a result, just one in every 10 Aussies who rent have lived in the same place for more than a decade.

There is a big and growing opportunity to provide commercial-like residential leases, with long-term time structures, annual rental increases set up front and most, if not all, outgoings paid by the occupant.

I know from personal experience that this works very well.

It takes more work upfront, especially vetting the tenant, but helps take a lot hassle out of residential investment.

Back to moving to a new house, when it comes to the capitals, peeps in Canberra move the least, whilst those living in Brisbane move the most.

The list below shows the proportion of households that have lived in their current home for more than a decade.

• Canberra                                   51%
• Sydney                                      43%
• Hobart                                       42%
• Melbourne                                 42%
• Adelaide                                    42%
• Darwin                                       40%
• Perth                                          39%
• Brisbane                                    37% 

It is somewhat sobering to find that that the majority aren’t that caught up in all the incessant real estate chat.

To most a house is their home and not something that needs a lot of day to day analysis or comment.

The majority just roll their eyes at the daily house price indices.

Again, I am in that crowd.

I think Tom Waits summed it up well….

“If there is love in the house, it’s a palace for sure”

…which ironically is from his song House Where Nobody Lives.