Australians in the share house rental market are feeling the impacts of rent rises, with close to half witnessing rents increase over the past six months.
According to a new study from Flatmates.com.au, more than 57% of Australians live in shared accommodation due to financial reasons.
Around one in 10 of these renters opted to go after share houses after experiencing tight competition for solo rentals.
More than half of those whose rents increased said the hike was more than expected.
One in two of all shared accommodation renters claimed they are now struggling to pay rent.
Flatmates community manager Claudia Conley said current market pressures, including the rising inflation are already taking a toll on renters.
“Facing these pressures, we’ve seen share houses work together to navigate higher rents and costs, whether that means finding new ways to save money or looking for cheaper rooms to rent,” she said.
Coping with increasing rents
Given the tight conditions in the share house market, it now takes around a quarter for renters to find a room, with 28% ending up having to pay more to secure a place.
For those seeking a new room, only 30% managed find a place in under four weeks, a dip from the 62% that found a home in under four weeks before January 2022.
Flatmates became more explorative of strategies to keep costs down.
In fact, almost two-thirds of respondents said they have introduced new house rules to help save costs. This includes cooking meals together, establishing rules for heater usage, and working or studying away from home to keep bills low.
Changing market for share houses
Another interesting finding in the study is the changing demographics of Australians seeking share homes.
According to the study, room seekers between 65 and 74 years old are the fastest growing demographic in Australian share houses, an increase of 25% over the five years to 2021.
“Share houses today come in all shapes and sizes — typical university share houses aren’t dominating the market like they used to. Companionship and an additional income stream are increasingly popular reasons landlords opt into share house living,” Ms Conley said.
“With the rising cost of living and limited rental stock, we are seeing the number of diverse share houses full of families, single parents, elderly sharers, migrants and empty nesters continue to grow.”
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Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.
