Bathurst renters having tough time securing properties

Bathurst's rental market is facing a crisis, with demand for homes well outstripping the limited supply.

In turn, it's putting upward pressure on prices, which have risen by between 10 and 15 per cent in recent months.

READ ALSO: Real estate agents share their Bathurst market forecast for 2022

While the property market, be it sales or rentals, is known to fluctuate, Raine and Horne Bathurst director Matt Clifton said he has never seen the situation reach this extreme.

"I've been in Bathurst since 1990. I've certainly seen cycles where there's been an oversupply of accommodation and an undersupply of accommodation, but I've never seen it as such a prolonged shortage of accommodation as we're experiencing at the moment," he said.

He is seeing vacancy rates below one per cent and multiple potential tenants trying to secure the same property.

"We're getting multiple applications for properties. There is just nothing about, so we are getting multiple people applying for properties prior to them being inspected," Mr Clifton said.

"There's a huge shortage [of property]; it's a real issue at the moment.

"In some cases, we've had 20-plus applications on the one property."

He said the issue is very much linked to the lack of homes for sale in Bathurst.

READ ALSO: Bathurst surpasses 1000 residential property sales in 2021

There is not much in the way of stock and what little is available is selling very quickly, sometimes being purchased sight unseen.

"There's a shortage of stock for sale and therefore there's a shortage of investors investing in the market because they can't find properties to invest in. That's causing a huge problem with shortage of stock," Mr Clifton said.

"We're getting people moving into the area, which is a good thing, but they're either in a position to purchase a property or rent a property and in both cases, because there's a shortage of stock for sale, investors can't be buying to supply the housing for renters and the housing is not there for people moving into the area to purchase their own home either."

One Agency Bestwick Real Estate's Mitchell Bestwick has seen similar trends at his agency.

There isn't a single property on his books that is currently vacant.

Both he and Mr Clifton don't see the situation improving for renters anytime soon.

"We just need to have a few more investors secure options and make them available, but you can't rely on that," Mr Bestwick said.

In such a competitive market, renters are encouraged to have all their documents in order quickly and correctly to give them the best chance of securing a property.

"Returning calls and getting themselves with all their information in order so they can apply for properties quicker, that will help," Mr Bestwick said.

"And communicating with property managers instead of sitting back and hoping they are successful.

"A lot of the time if you make the job easier for an application to be submitted to an owner to be considered you're a better chance.

"A lot of applications come in incomplete or are incorrect, which slows the process down and a lot of landlords will go with someone who is more organised because it shows they are probably going to pay rent on time and be better suited to look after their properties."

Mr Clifton agreed, saying that missing information can be the downfall.

"If an agent has multiple applications on their desk, they'll look at the one that's fully completed before they look at the one that's still got information to be provided," he said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: