This research considers the economic literature relating to pandemics, and models a range of related economic outcomes on employment and unemployment by sector, and on the housing outcomes of home owners, private renters, and small investor landlords in Australia from late 2020 and through 2021.

This research investigates the mental and economic wellbeing of landlords and tenants affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For landlords and tenants that have lost employment, had reduced income, or are seeking employment, the pandemic leaves a challenging financial situation for meeting rent or mortgage payments.

The supply of private rental housing has become more prominent in the debates around affordable housing as house prices have increasingly gotten out of the reach of prospective home owners, and rents have spiralled in rental housing. There is a concern that private rental markets are failing on the supply side due to principal-agent problems...