Bizarre listing for $350 a week tent inside a family-of-four’s home
A bizarre advertisement to rent a tent in an apartment for $350 a week has revealed the extent of the rental crunch in Australia.
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A bizarre advertisement to rent a tent in an apartment for $350 a week has revealed the extent of the rental and housing crunch in Australia.
The advertisement, on flatmates.com, is to live with a family of four in Windsor, close to Melbourne’s CBD, offering a space in the living room.
The advertisement was brought to light by property buyer’s agent Ella Cas, who posted a TikTok video about it.
The rental ad starts inoffensively: “Hello guys, we are looking for housemate to share our lovely home”.
It goes on to say “Room for rent, main bathroom is yours. Only looking for single, one person for room thank you.”
The person will be renting in the main room, with a tent used as a picture for the advertisement.
Ms Cas described it on Tik Tok as a “sad indication of the environment we are now in”.
“I assume the family has bought the apartment when interest rates were low and now that interest rates have risen they need assistance,” she said.
“This shows the struggles of being an Aussie home owner now”.
The RBA decided to hold interest rates at 4.1 per cent this month — just the second pause after 400 basis points worth of hikes since May 2022.
Rates are at the highest level since 2011, hitting millions of mortgage holders across the nation who are subsequently passing on to renters.
One TikToker joked they were going to “apply with my two person tent and sub lease the spare room in my tent”.
Another quipped they might “rent out my driveway to caravan, backyard to tents, double bunk beds in my 4 bedrooms”.
While another said, “I’m off to Target & buying 5 of these for my 2 bedroom flat to rent at $200 each”.
Renters are currently bearing the brunt of skyrocketing housing costs as rents soar across the capital cities.
Advertised rents rose by 2 per cent in the June quarter to sit at a median of $520 per week, according to the latest report from PropTrack.
That’s a rise of 11.8 per cent in the past year, with the median price of $465 per week in June last year.
In the past year, however, what renters are paying in capital cities has risen by a “staggering” 17 per cent in a year, led by Sydney and Melbourne.
And there is expectation things will get worse with new apartment approvals plunging to their lowest levels in decades.
In Victoria alone, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released in June reveal just 137 apartments were approved for construction statewide in February.
The last time figures dropped below that level was January 2007, when just 37 apartments were given the green light.
Urban Development Institute of Australia national president Max Shifman described the decline as “particularly worrying” in the midst of a housing and rental crisis.
“The concerning thing is that record-low approvals right now only really show the full extent of the problem about 3 years from now, given the lag between approvals and completions,” he told news.com.au.
carla.mascarenhas@news.com.au
Originally published as Bizarre listing for $350 a week tent inside a family-of-four’s home
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