INCREASINGLY desperate tenants are offering tens of thousands of dollars rent in advance as the Gold Coast faces the most severe rental crisis in decades.
Some experienced agents say the situation is the worst they have seen.
The crisis is being fed by the boom in construction work which is drawing tradesmen to the city in ever-increasing numbers.
RENTAL PRICES SKYROCKET AMID TIGHTEST VACANCY SQUEEZE EVER
Doug Hull Real Estate property manager Andrew Mills said the shortage of rentals was so bad some prospective tenants had offered up to six months payments in advance.
Mr Mills attributed part of the squeeze to families moving to the Coast for work and cheaper properties being snapped up by owners who intend to live in them rather than investors looking to rent them out.
“We’re losing rentals to purchasers moving into properties,” he said.
“The amount of work is increasing on the Coast, especially with the Commonwealth Games.
“There are a lot of people looking for properties that get rejected.”
Lucy Cole Prestige Properties boss Lucy Cole said the shortage meant prospective tenants had to be more prepared to apply for a home at short notice.
“We’re experiencing a lack of properties coming on to the market,” she said.
“Traditionally this is the time of year that people come up … looking to move to the Gold Coast.
“The numbers are going through the roof (at rental inspections).
“Generally they are there waiting for us to arrive, because they’re in blocks of 15 minutes.”
First National Real Estate Mudgeeraba’s Diane Van Der Valk said she had no vacancies for renters and this had been the case for most of the year.
“If you have a three or four-bedroom family home, you could have 15 or 20 people in attendance at the open inspection, or even more than that,” she said.
Professionals Black and Young Burleigh property manager Jillian Roach said in her 12 months with the southern Gold Coast real estate agency, she had noticed an increasingly tight market for prospective tenants in the region.
“We are definitely getting much higher rents than we would have been 12 months ago,” she said.
LJ Hooker Broadwater’s Linda Lang reported a similar trend on the northern Gold Coast but said if properties were not priced correctly, they were still likely to stay on the market for longer.
Ms Lang said at any one time she would usually expect to have as many as 10 vacant rental properties on her books but at the moment has just three.
“To have three is very minimal,” she said.
“None of us really know the answer.
“We are seeing more applications and more people at the viewings.”
“I’M LIVING IN A GRANNY FLAT”
FEW Gold Coasters know the pain of searching for a rental property quite like Dom Bradley.
The 20-year-old Carrara local has been sifting through property advertisements off and on for much of the past two years.
With his former roommate, Mr Bradley last year filled out about 15 applications and inspected about seven homes before he found a suitable place in Burleigh Waters.
“Eventually we found a place but only because one of us had a property manager for a neighbour,” he said.
The hospitality worker has since moved into a granny flat in Carrara which he says is perfect for him.
The small place costs him $150 a week, a third of his $450 wage.
Mr Bradley said he was soon planning on moving to Robina with his brother and friend Matt Ryan and said he again was struggling to find a place.
“We only just started looking and I have a great place, so I’m less keen than them but we are looking for somewhere in the Robina area and so far it’s tough finding a place cheap enough,” he said.
Originally Published: http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/