The major parties don't have a plan to fix the housing crisis. All they want to do is make their developer and landlord donors richer.
The Greens are the only party fighting for everyday Queenslanders to get ahead. We're the only party with a plan that gets to the heart of your cost of living crisis.
Our plan for renters
Across Queensland, rents have gone up by a whopping $330 a fortnight, or 43%, since 2021. Unlimited rent increases continue to keep homeownership out of reach for many while pushing thousands into financial stress and homelessness.
Right now, property investors and agents can increase rents by unlimited amounts and kick tenants out at the end of a fixed term lease for no reason. 1.7 million Queenslanders rent and they are struggling in one of the most unaffordable and insecure rental markets Queensland has ever seen.
Labor and the LNP have abandoned renters in the middle of a housing crisis. Neither of the major parties have a plan to tackle surging rents. Property investor politicians like the Premier and Opposition Leader would rather see rents continue to climb out of control than take on rich investors, big banks and private developers.
Renters also know that if they raise issues about maintenance, repairs, and minimum standards, they risk retaliation in the form of huge rent increases or being denied a lease renewal at the end of their existing agreement.
The Greens will give renters breathing space by freezing rents for two years followed by a 1% cap on annual rent increases. We’ll also give renters long term security by guaranteeing the right to a lease renewal at the end of a fixed term lease unless investors have a valid reason not to offer one
The Greens will help renters by:
- Freeze rents for two years followed by a 1% cap on rent increases.
- Implement long-term rent caps. After the two year rent freeze finishes, rent increases will be capped at 1% per year.
- Give renters a guaranteed right to a lease renewal. Agents and landlords will be required to renew all fixed term leases unless they have a good reason not to.
- Let renters make their house a home by increasing the notice period to refuse a lease renewal to 6 months.
Our plan for homeowners
The Greens would create a new State-government owned bank, the Queensland Public Bank to offer cheaper mortgages and take the pressure off families and first home buyers. By cutting out corporate profits and giant CEO salaries, the Public Bank would offer interest rates 1.5% below the big four banks.
Cutting out the 33% in corporate profits means the Greens could offer a cheaper alternative to the Big Four banks, taking the pressure off families. It would also drive down interest rates among private banks by creating stronger competition.
Queensland owner-occupiers could switch their mortgages to the Public Bank, saving thousands on their repayments every year. Investors and landlords would not be eligible.
The average recent home buyer in Queensland has a mortgage of $531,000. Based on that mortgage, first home buyers would save $6,165 every year compared with a mortgage from the Big Four Banks. That means a saving of $514 every single month back into people’s pockets.
A family with a $750,000 mortgage would save $8,703 per year and $725 per month compared to a mortgage from the Big Four banks.
The Greens will create a Queensland Public Bank to:
- Offer owner-occupier mortgage holders interest rates 1.5% below the Big Four banks, by cutting out corporate profits,
- Save the average new or recent first home buyers $6,165 every year or $514 every month, based on an average new mortgage of $531,000, compared to the Big Four.
- Offer fair mortgage rates, credit cards, savings, transaction accounts for households, and cash handling & EFTPOS facilities for small businesses with no fees.
- Drive down home loan interest rates among the Big Four by creating real competition in the banking sector.
Our plan to build more affordable homes with a new public property developer and by rebuilding QBuild
Queenslanders need more homes but private developers are holding back supply. Private developers make more money when prices and rents are high. Right now rich property developers own more than 99,000 sites for houses and apartments, with Council approvals ready to build.
Meanwhile, there are 43,000 Queenslanders on the social housing waiting list. They have sold off public housing and failed to build enough new social homes. The number of social housing homes per Queenslander has fallen by 10% since Labor came to power.
Both Labor and the LNP would rather let private property developers keep their chokehold over the supply of housing and let house prices and rents keep on rising. The wasteful boom-and-bust cycle created by private developers means regular people pay more, and fewer homes get built.
The Greens would transform the housing system in Queensland, getting the government back in the business of building homes directly, like it used to.
That's why we've got a plan to create a new public property developer and rebuild QBuild to deliver the hundreds of thousands of homes we need and create thousands of secure jobs and apprenticeship opportunities for Queenslanders.
The Greens will:
- Create a publicly owned property developer to buy land and fund the construction of well-designed public homes, breaking the private developer chokehold on housing supply, and driving down house prices and rents for everyone.
- Build 100,000 well designed public homes over 6 years by investing $60 billion in construction. These homes would be sold and rented to Queenslanders at prices they can actually afford.
- Save renters $9,000 per year and save first home buyers $225,000 off the purchase price of an average home.
- Grow the construction industry by 30%, by 2031 by creating a steady pipeline of work instead of the developer-driven boom-and-bust cycle.
- Expand Queensland’s publicly owned builder, QBuild, to clear the social housing waiting list within four years by building public homes, under contracts with the Queensland Greens’ new public property developer.
- Create 10,000 guaranteed QBuild jobs, including 7,000 positions for qualified tradespeople and 3,000 apprentices, backed by a $500 million investment in new equipment, workshops and infrastructure.
- Reverse the privatisation and outsourcing at QBuild by directly employing tradies and apprentices to build public homes, all funded by the Greens’ public developer.
The Greens are the only choice to get more truly affordable homes built while making your rent and mortgage more affordable right now.
A little more for regular Queenslanders, a little less for big corporations. That's our promise to you.
Read our plan for Queensland at greens.org.au/qld/plan.