PropTrack data reveals Cooloola Cove, Tin Can Bay weekly rental price drops

As rents continue to rise across the Gympie region there is a surprising move in the other direction in some parts, although not enough to help some tenants. Find out where the weekly rent is dropping.

Emma Buhse (inset) said dropping rental prices in places like Tin Can Bay was cold comfort for people hunting for new tenancies, as the prices of more than $390 per week were still draining bank accounts.

Dropping rental prices in some corners of the Gympie region are unlikely to offer relief for potential tenants with one renter saying she and her partner will likely be forced to survive on $50 each week.

Emma Buhse has been among the hundreds of potential tenants grappling with rising costs of living and soaring prices as they try to put a roof over their heads.

Ms Buhse said her partner Troy and their dog Nutmeg were living in a three-bedroom home on a main road, outside a flood zone, before the rental and housing crisis took hold.

They were now staring at a significant financial squeeze.

“We estimate with my DSP (Disability Support Pension) … and my partner’s pay … by the end of the week we’ll probably have $50 to survive on … which is probably more than most people,” Ms Buhse said.

“I know there are people who are draining their bank accounts every week to pay rent.

New PropTrack data reveals the median weekly rental at Tin Can Bay cost its tenants $400 in February 2022, down $15 in the past three months. Rental prices at nearby Cooloola Cove dropped $35 to $390 in the same period. Photo Craig Warhurst / Gympie Times

New figures from real estate hub PropTrack shows rent at Cooloola Cove dropped $35 in the past three months, down from $425 to $390, and down $40 from the $430 median price in February 2022.

At Tin Can Bay prices dropped from $415 to $400, bringing it back to where it was in February 2022.

Prices in other parts of the region were headed in the other direction.

Gympie region resident Emma Buhse said major renewable projects like the Woolooga solar were drawing more people to the region, thereby continuing to put more pressure on the housing and rental markets.

Southside residents were now paying $90 more with prices increasing more than 21 per cent from $410 to $500 in 12 months.

Jones Hill renters are now paying $83 due to an 18 per cent rise from $450 to $533.

Major rural vet service finds new home after challenging year

At Gympie and Monkland rental prices increased 12-14 per cent since February 2022, a rise of $45-$55, to $450 and $400 respectively.

Ms Buhse said the prices meant finding a new rental felt like jumping “out of the frying pan and into the fire”.

Offerings on the market were considerably smaller too with “halved up houses or rooms in sharehousing” asking these amounts or more.

“That doesn’t really work out well for couples or families but it’s possibly still out of reach of single people trying to find housing.”

Emma Buhse said she would “love” to move to places like Tin Can Bay or Cooloola Cove where rental prices were dropping, but personal circumstances made it impossible.

Mega gallery: School leaders of Wide Bay Burnett for 2023

Ms Buhse would “love” to move to the coast where prices were dropping, but personal circumstances made it impossible.

“We don’t have a car, my partner needs to stay nearby to his job and I need to be near medical facilities and my family who are elderly and disabled themselves to provide them support also,” Ms Buhse said.

The cheapest suburbs to rent on the Sunshine Coast revealed

“People are desperate for housing and still accepting those prices despite the instability of the rental market in regards to pricing and short leases.

“That’s how desperate people are for a roof over their head right now.”

Continuing migration on the back of major renewable energy projects in the region was likely to keep rentals high too.

“The housing and rental crisis in other areas are still having a domino effect in our own region,” Ms Buhse said.