RENTAL shortages in Gawler and the Barossa Valley are forcing applicants to offer above and beyond the listed asking price.

As Adelaide’s median weekly rent last week rose to $430 – now on a par with Melbourne – the local rental crisis means a number of vulnerable potential tenants face being homeless as they receive rejection after rejection in their housing search.

Harcourts Gawler business owner Julie Thring said the rapid rise in rental pricing “has been coming for some time”.

“There are various reasons as to why this has occurred,” she said.

“To start with, you had the Federal Government introduce the National Rental Affordability Scheme, which basically was to get private landlords to purchase housing for people on lower incomes and eliminate Housing Trust housing.

“These properties needed to be rented 20 per cent below market rate, and the government would top up the owner the 20 per cent reduction in rent.

“This was for a period of five years only, and a lot of these properties are no longer on this scheme – as such, the rents have increased.

“On top of this, in the last two elections, the talk about abolition of negative gearing combined with the land-tax reform saw approximately 30 per cent of landlords sell their properties, causing a shortage of properties available for rent.

“Top this off with COVID-19, and people deciding to separate, it has simply snowballed the issue.

“Currently, prices are steadying. However, this always occurs over the winter months, so a higher demand again will be expected from September.”

Ms Thring said she knew of cases of potential tenants who had offered above the listed asking price out of desperation to secure a home.

A number of renters commented to her on the incredible demand when compared with before COVID-19.

“I have heard of situations where potential tenants are offering more than the listed weekly price in order to try and secure a rental – in South Australia there is no actual legislation in place preventing this,” Ms Thring said.

“However, an agent cannot misrepresent or advertise a price they or the landlord is not willing to accept, and the property manager is also obliged to deal fairly and honestly with prospective tenants.

“We have no had feedback from renters about the pricing.

“However, we have had a lot of feedback regarding the availability – tenants are going to properties and seeing 40 people there, whereas in the past, it may have been half that.

“Around 18 months ago, the average time to fill a property was four to six weeks, whereas prior to winter, this timeframe was less than four weeks.

“Winter has slowed the market which is normal for this time of the year. And it must be noted that we are now having to restrict the number of people we can allow to go through a property when it is open, which we did not have to do 18 months ago.”

Ms Thring said she understood how worrying it could be trying to find a new place to rent.

But she emphasised just because someone was denied did not mean they were a bad applicant. “(My advice would be) keep looking through properties and applying,” she said.

“Understand that currently landlords have a large range of tenants to choose from, so are just selecting one person out of a bunch.

“Just because you miss out on a property does not mean you are a bad tenant.

“Unfortunately a lot of time tenants see the increased number of people at open houses and don’t bother putting in an application form as they think it is not worth it – they need to remember that not everyone that applies has a good history, and it is always still worth putting in their application form but obviously only if they actually like the property.

“Also, when looking through the property, introduce yourself to the property manager.”

*If you are having trouble finding a rental and would be willing to share your story, we would like to hear from you. Please email editor@bunyippress.com.au