Registered nurse Sunil Jacob is among the hundreds of people who are desperate for a home in SA

Open inspections turn into full-on stampedes. Ordinary people are finding it diabolically difficult to find a home to rent in South Australia.

Registered nurse Sunil Jacob never expected to find it so hard to find a rental property in Adelaide.

The 39-year-old moved from Sydney in March to take up a job at Flinders Medical Centre and has been looking for somewhere to live independently since.

“It’s very hard to find something here, compared to Sydney,” he said.

“There is so much less available here.”

Mr Sunil was among two dozen people who attended an open inspection last week for a $340-a-week modest two-bedroom unit at Westbourne Park.

As prospective tenants lined up in drizzling, wintry weather, Mr Sunil told The Advertiser he was able to pay $380 for the two-storey property “if that is possible”.

“I’ve been looking for two months, which is hard because I need to balance it with my work,” he said.

Mr Sunil said he had been to 10 open inspections, each attended by between 30 to 40 people.

Among others looking at the unit was Yoen Hee Yoo, 33, who left South Korea in 2019 to study nursing at Flinders University.

Ms Koo, who recently graduated, said she was looking for somewhere to live with her 33-year-old husband, tiler Taewoon Oh.

“I’ve been living with other students in a share house at Flinders Park but I am trying to find a smaller place for us,” she said.

Ms Koo had been to four open inspections over the past month, including properties at Windsor Gardens and Toorak Gardens going for between $300 to $400 for a week.

“There were about 30 to 40 people at each one,” she said.

“I am just looking for somewhere tidy, nice and cosy to live.

“Everywhere I have gone there has been so many more people than I was expecting.”

Prospective tenants line up for an open inspection of a rental property at Westbourne Park. Picture: Colin James

Also becoming disillusioned at the numbers attending open inspections for rental properties was university student and part-time hospitality worker Acacia Jackson.

Ms Jackson, 21, said she had been trying to find a rental property for her and her 20-year-old partner and chef, Katie, since last November.

The pair wanted to move out of a share house at Norwood, where they lived with three other young people.

“Even just trying to find an one-bedroom place is just ridiculous,” she said.

Ms Jackson said she regularly had heard people come out of inspections and offer more than the advertised rental price to real estate agents.

“How are we meant to compete?” she said.

“We can only offer so much. It just happens all the time.”

As a despondent Ms Jackson walked back to her car, a woman approached the agent managing the inspection and offered $50 more a week for the unit.