Sorrento rent out $800 a week storage unit leaving those desperate for homes in shock

When a fraction of a waterfront mansion is pitched as an $800 per week storage unit, you know we’re headed for trouble. Read where

First it was buyers, then it was renters … now we have yet another property crisis.

Desperate tenants could not believe their eyes when a palatial waterfront home in the luxe suburb of Sorrento came online to rent this week at an incredibly low price (relatively speaking) of $800 per week.

Was this a good Samaritan looking to help out a desperate family? Maybe even someone who somehow just has no idea what rentals are worth these days?

No and no.

Because upon closer virtual inspection, it turns out this four-bedroom, five-bathroom home on almost 1200 sqm of main river frontage, which sold for $3.39 million in January, was only available for storage.

Place for rent on the Coast for $800 week for storage

And only 400 sqm of it at that. At $800 per week.

The property has since been removed from the market, with the agent apparently telling prospective storage clients that there were so many requests for the home as a residential rental that necessary repairs were being made before it would be advertised as a full family home for lease.

So that’s further proof that the rental crisis continues unabated, at all price points.

But the fact that the home would have and could have been snapped up for $800 per week simply to stash someone’s furniture shows that we have another problem on our hands – a storage crisis.

Calls to multiple Gold Coast storage units confirms demand for self-storage units is at an highest, and the reason is sadly related to our other property problems.

“We are all very, very busy, people are booking months in advance because everyone is booking out,” says one local company, which did not want to be named.

“It’s really gone crazy since last October, we think it’s being driven by the rental crisis as well as the number of new people moving to the Gold Coast.”

Indeed, Self Storage Association of Australasia board member David Daddow told the ABC that business was up across the country by about 30 per cent.

He said this meant many facilities were turning away people, including some of the most desperate who had already lost their homes.

“A lot of the increase in business is coming from people who have lost their rental – it’s been sold or the owner has moved back in or they simply can’t afford rent. They can’t find anywhere else to live and so they store their belongings and live in their car,” said Mr Daddow.

Famous Gold Coast home with famous celebrity history on the market and attracting major Hollywood interest. Source: homesales.com.au

The SSAA State of the Industry report says changes in lifestyle, living spaces and severe weather events are further driving record demand for self storage.

It states that storage use is also increasing from businesses, creating a further supply shortage.

“The way people are using self storage is changing, with business usage on the rise reflecting the growth in online retail and supply chain challenges,” the report says.

“(For residential clients), the lack of housing availability, both to rent and to buy, together with the rental affordability crisis has contributed to further demand for self storage.”

On the positive side, this demand from both residents and businesses means that investors are now flocking to self-storage, according to Jones Lang LaSalle commercial real estate, and could become a new growth industry on the Gold Coast.

Unfortunately, many of those who are forced to store their most prized possessions due to either lack of space or lack of shelter must later sell or dispose of them as they can no longer afford to pay for storage.

And to that end, it seems that $800 per week for 400 sqm of storage in Sorrento was a pretty good deal, considering that renting a 70 sqm storage unit on the Gold Coast costs about $2300 per month.

But just as the agents for that home ultimately fielded more inquiries from those wanting a place to stay rather than a place to store, it seems this same may be true for storage units themselves.

One of the most disturbing things I found when researching this issue was that when I Googled ‘Gold Coast self storage’, the first question that showed up was ‘can you sleep in self storage’.

The answer, of course, is no. But it’s the question itself that breaks my heart.