ABC report on CICTAR research: Childcare landlords are collecting a staggering $2.7b in rent every year while parents' fees rise

‘New analysis for the ABC by the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR) and led by researcher Bronwyn Lee, estimates that childcare landlords collect a staggering $2.7 billion in rent every year’

Lee says rent is the second-biggest cost for childcare centres, after wages, so when rent goes up, either parents are squeezed or costs in other areas are cut.

"The focus has been on for-profit childcare operators," Lee says. But she says the relatively new actor in the sector is for-profit landlords "who are increasingly predatory".

She says some of the bigger landlords use complex financial structures to obscure their business models, for example one of the bigger ones has 18 subsidiaries which are structured as trusts, which don't require them to publish financial statements.

"High rents impose significant pressure on operators to maximise occupancy," she says.