12:00a.m. 1st December 2007

| By Alan Lander

There may be only one thing worse than being “mortgage-stressed” through ever-rising interest rates.

You could be one of the many people who inherits the interest rate payments second-hand – through rent.

The rental crisis on the Coast is now more pronounced than ever, as some landlords are forced to hike up rents as they struggle to keep their own heads above water.

According to the 2006 census, 29,326 homes on the Coast were rental properties, and those living within them are forking out a lot more money to stay there than they did just a year ago.

Ray White Mooloolaba property management associate Karen Stehr said the real estate market was not slowing down as Christmas approached, and the office was receiving 130 inquiries daily via email, phone and walk-in business.

“For each property that becomes available to rent, we are holding only one ‘open house’ and of late, we are receiving at least 10 applications on each premise,” she said.

On one typical day this week, the company had four properties available, against a monthly tenant market of around 900 clients.

And while affordable housing has been at crisis point for some time now, Ms Stehr said the supply of any type of rental housing was at that same crisis level – with a vacancy rate of 0.77%.

“One hundred and six properties have been rented in the last four months leaving almost nothing available for potential tenants moving here for Christmas,” she said.

Ms Stehr also said because rents are rapidly increasing, so too are rental bonds.

“Tenants who have been residing in property on a long-term basis are also feeling the effects of the market, experiencing an average increase of $20 upon each lease renewal,” she said.

Unsuccessful coastal renters might think things are a little easier in the hinterland but they had better be prepared for disappointment because identical conditions prevail on the western side of the highway and beyond.

It’s the same story there according to Joanne Leach, a property manager at Woombye Real Estate.

Ms Leach recently moved jobs to the hinterland from the coastal strip, and found conditions much the same as the ones she had left.

“The supply and demand situation is there’s not enough supply, and there is too much demand,” Ms Leach said.

She said the pressure is two-sided for many renters, as they are often in jobs which are not necessarily well-paid, but there is no affordable rental property available.

“Rents are going up by $30 a week – but wages are not,” she said.

What does come up for rent is snapped up quickly.

“We put a property on our rental list and on the internet, and it’s gone in two days,” Ms Leach said.

Property research guru Michael Matusik said there was simply not enough housing stock.

“Expect median rents will go up to $375 for a three-bedroom house by 2010,” he said.

“Some (tenants) will share, some will go back and live with their parents.”