Finding a rental a tough task
As a newcomer to the Wimmera I am asked a reoccurring question: ‘So, have you found a place to rent yet?’.
Moving from Melbourne to Horsham at the start of this year was a new challenge for me.
I was starting a new job and I assumed settling into this position and finding my way around town would be the first test.
However, finding a place to rent was the first challenge I faced trying to call the Wimmera home.
There are more people moving to the Wimmera than there are available houses.
Waiting lists are long and rental properties are rare.
Many real estate businesses in the region have no rental properties available in their portfolio and those that have one must select a ‘winner’ from dozens of candidates.
On my first day in Horsham, I was on the phone to a real estate agent while having lunch at a pub, trying to organise somewhere to live.
I asked if I could arrange a house inspection on late notice that afternoon.
The agent told me I needed to lodge a rental application before she could arrange an inspection because of the large amount of house-inspection requests Melbourne residents were lodging.
On a later phone call to a different real estate agent, I was told the two houses I had inquired about had applications accepted, even though they only appeared online two days prior.
I was lucky to have my rental application accepted shortly after these conversations, but I realise the same luck evades other people wanting to live in the Wimmera.
Harcourts Horsham property manager Corrie Munn said the short supply of rentals was not keeping up with demand for homes in the Wimmera.
“We are typically finding a shortage in the middle-range rental bracket, between $280 and $350 a week,” she said.
“It means families are caught between units that might be too small and houses in the higher price range that are out of their budget.
“Most of the people seeking rental properties are young graduates from the cities who have jobs lined up in the area, but they cannot get a home to live in because they are competing with families who have to squeeze into units.”
Mrs Munn said there was also an increase in landlords removing their properties from the rental market and taking advantage of increasing house prices by selling off their rental investments.
“Some owner-occupiers are even selling their primary home and squeezing the rental market further by renting during a new-home build,” she said.
“With the housing market being very hot at the moment it outweighs the returns investors want from their rental property.
“Potential rental homes are finding their way to the sales market and owner-occupiers are buying them out.
“It is fantastic that people are coming to town, but we know that we cannot provide homes for them.”
Mrs Munn said while share-housing was one way people had avoided the decreasing availability of homes in larger cities, there was a ‘less active’ share-house community in the Wimmera.
As someone who has spent nearly a decade in share-houses I was surprised to find this for myself when I started my search for a home in Horsham.
I hope the lack of rental homes in the region does not impact the people who are thinking of making ‘that’ move or accepting ‘that’ job in the Wimmera.
While I have found a place to rent and have avoided the worst of the rental-home scramble, I am sure when I meet someone who has also recently moved to the Wimmera I will be asking them a similar question to the one I was asked.
‘So, have you found a place to rent yet?’.