Disheartening footage has laid bare the reality of trying to rent in , showing a huge queue of prospective tenants at an apartment inspection.
The crowd was spotted gathering at the Qube unit block in Broadbeach, on the Gold Coast, on Tuesday.
‘You’re trying to get a place at the Gold Coast,’ the caption read.
Tongue-in-cheek audio was attached to the clip and poked fun at the dire state of the rental market.
‘Keep putting in that work, keep putting in that work. You know why? You’re almost there,’ a man said.
Social media users were dismayed at how difficult it had become to find a place to live in due to soaring demand from immigration-fueled population growth and resultant high prices.
‘And people are trying to say there isn’t a rental crisis,’ one person wrote.
‘Went to one rental recently and there was at least 200 people there,’ another said.
A third added: ‘Meanwhile it’s a 2 bed 1 bath going for $850 a week and the second bedroom is a small study.’
‘God, it feels good to be a landlord,’ another wrote.
Leading property market analyst Propertyology predicted in its 2025 outlook that prices would rise between 10 and 13 per cent on the Gold Coast, while the vacancy rate would be at a measly 1.1 per cent.
The weekly rent on the Gold Coast increased by about $363 from June 2020 to June 2024, and Broadbeach has a tight two per cent rental vacancy rate.
Maiy Azize represents Everybody’s Home which is an advocacy group pushing for more social housing and support for renters.
She told Daily Mail that she was not surprised by the video.
‘One of the things that we’ve found in the last couple of years is that the Gold Coast is the most expensive part of the country to rent,’ Ms Azize said.
‘Rents are very, very high and they also go up very quickly.
‘Whenever we do one of our year-to-year analysis, the Gold Coast always comes out of top for fastest increases.
‘There’s really steep competition and I’d imagine it’s even steeper when it’s an apartment or a house that’s vaguely affordable because there’s so little of that on offer.’
Ms Azize said there were many factors that have led to the rental crisis on the Gold Coast in particular, including the money to be made from short-term leasing via AirBnB rather than long-term rentals.
‘There are a lot of people with holiday homes who rent them out short term rather than long term and that’s having an impact,’ she said.
‘The government also spends a lot of money lining the pockets of investors to go out there and compete with first home buyers and push up the cost of housing.
‘That’s particularly a big issue on the Gold Coast because it is such an attractive place to invest.
‘There are so many people who have second homes on the Gold Coast.’
Everybody’s Home has repeatedly called for the provision of more social housing.
‘The government has really stepped back from providing affordable housing,’ Ms Azize said.
‘When you look around the world at countries that have turned their housing crisis around, or have avoided it altogether, they are countries where the government isn’t just leaving it to the private sector.’