> Respectfully - while that's no doubt useful for your visiting family, weighing that up vs the social costs of taking a house off the market when it could be used by a family, in the midst of what I think is the worst rental crisis in Aus history, in which many families are forced to live in vehicles, it doesn't really stack up in a utilitarian sense.
I don't disagree - I find it terrible that it's being kept off the market, especially as someone that is struggling with the housing crisis myself (my partner and I considered buying it, but my grandfather built it as a townhouse for him to live out retirement in and it's not really suitable for us with a young child).
There are complicating family factors for us but at the end of the day I would absolutely rather this house be on the market where someone could take advantage of it.
I think the reality is there are vastly more totally unused homes that are simply not being rented because they're just being sat on by (presumably mostly overseas investors).