A Gen-Z property investor who owns three properties has shut down claims landlords are at fault for Australia’s current rental crisis.
Harley Giddings, 24, has worked hard since adolescence and in every job ‘under the sun’ to own a house and is now the proud owner of multiple investment properties.
The young investor posted a TikTok to his thousands of followers saying he often gets comments ‘all the time’ that blame investors for the housing shortage.
The savvy landlord said he can understand Aussies’ frustrations but thinks this is ‘misguided’, firmly believing the sky-rocketing rents and housing shortage lie with high immigration and low building approvals.
‘In 2022 and 2023 the government let in over a million migrants into the country,’ he said.
Harley Giddings, 24, has a property portfolio consisting of three investment properties. He understands people are ‘hurting’ but believes Aussies are ‘misguided’ when blaming landlords for the rental crisis
‘Basic supply and demand’ is the reason for the Australian housing crisis, according to the 24-year-old
‘According the Australian Bureau of Statistics, this is the most amount of migrants Australia has ever let into the country since they started recording.
‘These one million migrants were let in at a time when Australia already had a housing crisis.’
Mr Giddings said that when people arrive in Australia they are looking at renting and not buying, which is why so many people are at inspections for rental opens.
‘Basic supply and demand,’ he said.
The second reason the young property investor gave for the housing shortage in Australia was the low amount of homes being built.
‘We are simply not building enough properties,’ he said.
‘In Victoria, my home state, we currently have the lowest amount of building approvals that we’ve had in the last decade.
‘This issue is Australia-wide.’
The 24-year-old quoted research from the Institute of Public Affairs that by 2028 Australia’s housing supply will be short by 252,800 homes.
Many Australians agreed with the young investor, also blaming the government.
‘Absolute master stroke by the government,’ one wrote.
‘Not to mention all of Victoria’s new tax laws on investments, landlords are getting rid of them,’ one said.
‘If you can’t keep up with supply reduce the demand,’ another wrote.
Mr Giddings said the the low number of houses being built in Australia is a major reason for rents increasing so high (pictured people at an auction)
However, other Aussies were quick to throw blame back at the investor.
‘You are also the problem. You cannot just blame building and immigration. You know why people can’t afford to build? Because they can’t afford the increased prices driven up by decades of investors,’ one wrote.
‘Investors and immigration: two problems [that] need to be stopped,’ another said.
Mr Giddings told Yahoo he understands it would be very hard at the moment to be a renter and there’s a lot of ‘hurt’ due to prices increasing not just in rent, but everything else as well.
‘I just think there’s a couple of factors that is like worsening the housing crisis that isn’t caused by renters or landlords,’ he said.
The investor, who became interested in property after reading multiple books and listening to podcasts about investing, made it clear to Yahoo that he did not blame the people moving to Australia, but government policy.
Mr Giddings dropped out of university half-way through his business degree because he didn’t think it would offer him much.
The 24-year-old instead worked two jobs, seven days a week, saving more than $100,000 by age 22.
Mr Giddings, who describes his family as middle class, went halves with his dad for his first property, as told by Yahoo.
The young investor believes high rents and a competitive market has been created by the government allowing one million migrants into the country in the middle of a housing crisis
‘My parents aren’t really the kind of investment-savvy people. Like, dad’s a firefighter, mum’s a hairdresser. So he had the borrowing power because he was working full time and I had the savings,’ he said.
The hard-worker, who has always been interested in investing, purchased away from his state of Victoria and instead invested in Western Australia.
‘There’s 15,000 suburbs in Australia, it’s highly unlikely that the area you live in is going to be one of the best performing,’ he said.
The first property cost the father and son $450,000 and then the 24-year-old used more savings to buy a second property.
Mr Giddings used the equity built up in the second property to purchase his third investment.
This impressive property portfolio was achieved by the time he was just 23.
According to the Australia Tax Office, most landlords are ‘mum and dad’ investors, with a massive 71 per cent of landlords in Australia owning just one investment property.
Only 19 per cent own two properties.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics work begun in 2023 on just 163,836 new houses, which is the lowest amount since 2012.
Compounding the issue is a 90,000 tradie shortage, who are needed in the next three months so the government’s housing plan can stay on deadline.
