Doctors forced to camp out in south coast rental property ‘crisis’
South coast rental prices have risen 25 per cent over the past year as a shortage of rental homes pushes locals out of the market and forces professionals into short-term accommodation in trailers.
The South Coast News
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A south coast real estate agent says professionals are being forced to live in caravans as rental prices skyrocket at a rate higher than anywhere in NSW.
Data released by homelessness advocacy group Everybody’s Home shows the cost of rental properties has risen almost 26 per cent over the past year, the highest rate in NSW.
LJ Hooker Bega licensee Paul Griffen said high rental demand combined with a shortage of available homes is to blame.
“While we haven’t seen that big of an increase, rent is certainly on the rise, and there is strong demand so people will pay it,” he said.
“We have educated professionals like doctors, nurses and physiotherapists living in short-term accommodation in trailers at the showground until they can get a rental.
“We had nothing available for two or three months earlier this year between Bega and Narooma.
“Since August it’s just been out of control.”
So dire is the situation, Stony Creek resident Narelle Storey, who has two children with special needs and is on a carer’s pension, says she would not have a rental home without the generosity of others after losing her Cobargo home in the Black Summer bushfires.
“I waited a year to get a rental at Cobargo, then it was burnt out three weeks later,” she said.
“I was very fortunate to pick up the rental I now have … I was selected because I lost my home, otherwise I‘d still be camping.”
Ms Storey said new options including holiday rental company Airbnb have reduced rental availability, and said ideas like residential land lease communities could help residents looking for a secure home.
Nowra property manager Gemma Stamper said rental costs are rising all along the south coast as people move from across NSW, in particular Sydney, describing the current market as “crazy town”.
Shoalhaven mayor Amanda Findley said 7000 people have moved to the Shoalhaven in the past 12 months.
This week Cr Findley said a long term approach is needed to help solve the affordable housing issue in the Shoalhaven.
“It’s hard to say, but I think Covid has driven the market up,” Ms Stamper said.
“It’s a new way of life because it’s just going up and up and up.”
She said the market is mainly new homes with “all the bells and whistles”, and people who can afford it are willing to pay more just to have a home.
CoreLogic’s research director, Tim Lawless, said the “new popularity of remote and flexible working arrangements” and increased demand for lifestyle properties and holiday homes is pushing locals out of the rental market.
“While surging values are probably good news for homeowners in these regions, for those that don’t own a home, affordability is being stretched,” he said.
“Particularly for long-time locals whose incomes are unlikely to be rising at anywhere near the pace of house price appreciation, they may be forced to seek out housing options further afield.”
Everybody’s Home’s Kate Colvin said the rising cost of rentals is putting housing out of reach for young workers.
“The housing affordability crisis is even more dire for those on Youth Allowance. A person on Youth Allowance looking for a share house can afford less than one per cent of rentals,” she said.
“Across all of Australia, just four rental listings out of 77,000 in December last year were affordable to someone on Youth Allowance.
“With youth unemployment at 12.9 per cent, many have no choice but to rely on welfare, but it is clearly not enough to secure housing.
“Building social and affordable housing is crucial to ending youth homelessness and would be a major long-term cost-saving measure.”
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