Gympie estate agent Karen Robinson’s criticism of tenants sparks fury from “second-class citizens” as she attempts to create a luxury golf club.
An Australian real estate agent has been accused of calling his tenants “second-class citizens” after touting the virtues of an exclusive golf course development to owner-occupiers while dismissing the tenants.
A video shared on Property Shop Australia’s TikTok page on Wednesday, which has since been deleted, shows real estate agent Karen Robinson describing the benefits of Royal Pines Estate in Gympie, on Queensland’s south coast.
“Now tell me, would you rather live next to an owner occupier or on a street full of rentals? » asked Ms. Robinson in the deleted video.
“I know that if I’m spending $500,000 to $1 million on my house and land lot, the last thing I want to do is live on a street full of renters.”
“The people who build here are owner-occupiers and we’re really proud of that. This is why it is such a unique and prestigious field.
But the comment sparked a furious reaction on social media, with outraged posters furious with her, calling the tenants “second class citizens”, they claim.
Estate agent Karen Robinson has been criticized online after a TikTok video which appeared to suggest a development’s main selling point was that tenants were not going to be allowed in.
Property Shop Australia is developing and selling the Royal Pines Estate, backing onto the Gympie Golf Course. Ms. Robinson is also director of Hampton Home Builders based in the same office.
Ms. Robinson said out-of-town builders were buying blocks of land in bulk to build investment properties that would be rented to people who were not like-minded.
She added: “There aren’t many estates in Gympie.
“I actually took a drive today and there wasn’t one that wasn’t filled to the brim with rental properties.”
The video sparked a storm of protests on social media.
Angry local said it was ‘disgusting to call tenants second-class citizens’, reported Gympie times.
“You wouldn’t be able to walk down a street and confidently say who’s a rental or who’s an owner-occupier,” said another.
Another furious commenter accused Ms Robinson of snobbery and said she seemed to “put tenants in a category she thinks are way above”.
Many were also offended by the video’s tone amid high inflation, a cutthroat housing market and more than a year of rising interest rates that landlords are passing on to renters.
Property Shop Australia is developing the Royal Pines Estate (left) which backs onto the Gympie Golf Course (right)
Ms Robinson said she had driven around Gympie and Royal Pines was the only area that was not “filled to the brim with rental properties”.
As renters across the country find it increasingly difficult to break into the first-time home market, there could be a light at the end of the tunnel.
The federal government’s $10 billion housing investment fund passed Parliament this week after months of tense negotiations and obstruction.
The Housing Australia Future Fund is expected to build 30,000 social and affordable homes over five years.
It will mobilize interest from the $10 billion to spend on housing, but a minimum of $500 million will be spent each year under a deal with the Greens.
The small party initially opposed the fund, but agreed to support it after securing an additional $1 billion on top of the $2 billion already pledged for the provision of social and affordable housing.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the fund would make a real difference to vulnerable Australians, calling the bill’s passage a big victory.
“Today is a victory to boost housing supply… to improve housing affordability across the country,” he told Parliament on Thursday.
While the Greens failed in their bid to secure a rent freeze and cap, leader Adam Bandt said the fight would continue as more housing laws came before Parliament and were considered. would extend until the next federal election campaign if necessary.
“At some point, the government will have to give up because tenants need a little respite, they need a rent freeze to allow income to catch up with the increase in rents,” he said. -he declares.
Opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar remained concerned the fund was not up to the task.
“It’s not even a drop in the bucket. … That’s 6,000 homes per year over five years… this government is bringing in 1.5 million new migrants,” he said.
