Revealed: Gympie one of the toughest places in Qld to rent

GYMPIE is one of the toughest regions in Australia to live as a renter, the latest Rental Vulnerability Index has revealed.

Client giving Australian money to property agent for buying house. Property and real estate concept. Picture: p_saranya

GYMPIE is one of the toughest regions in Australia to live as a renter, the latest Rental Vulnerability Index has revealed.

The number of tenants aged over 65 in Queensland has jumped by more than a quarter in five years as the worrying new data from Tenants Queensland and City Futures Research Centre revealed, and these older Queenslanders are struggling to keep a roof over their heads - the problem is worst in the Gympie, Fraser Coast, Bundaberg and Moreton Bay regions because of high unemployment.

Updated figures incorporating the latest Census date reveal there was a 26 per cent increase in older renters compared with a 12 per cent increase in renters overall in Queensland between 2011 and 2016, with the highest proportions located in the regions.

Tenants Queensland chief executive Penny Carr said the data showed many vulnerable households had been pushed out to regional areas in search of cheaper housing but were still facing rental stress, with fewer opportunities to improve their circumstances over the long term. Ms Carr said the data showed regional and remote parts of Queensland continued to be areas of high rental vulnerability.

- Elizabeth Tilley