Deniliquin real estate agencies say their vacancy rates for rentals are “close to zero” - and it’s having an impact on the community, including the local high school.
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Big River Real Estate director and principal licensee Angela Carmichael said vacancy rates in and around Deniliquin are tight at the moment.
And she does not seem them improving without a significant increase in new homes.
“We are currently under one percent (vacancy rate),” she said.
“If we haven't got the housing to offer, then vacancy rates are going to stay where they are currently; and that's it's a scary place.”
It’s a similar story at Ray White Deniliquin.
Director and principal licensee Hamish Thomson said their vacancy rate is about 0.5 per cent.
“We have not advertised a rental property for three years, and that’s because basically the supply is tight and demand is still quite large,” Mr Thomson said.
He said they have just started to advertise a few rental properties but are already “inundated with inquiries”.
And that’s on top of an existing waiting list.
The Real Estate Institute of NSW (REINSW) chief executive officer Tim McKibbin said it is a statewide problem.
He said there is simply not enough housing to cope with demand, which is putting tremendous pressure on the rental market.
The latest REINSW vacancy rates survey results released on Monday show rental vacancies have further tightened in many regional areas, while other areas have eased.
The regions with the lowest vacancies were Albury and Mid-North Coast at 0.8 per cent in January 2023, which had dropped 0.3 per cent since December 2022.
Although the vacancy rate in the wider Riverina rose from 0.7 per cent to 1.2 per cent, it was the 4th lowest NSW region surveyed.
Mr McKibbin said that the data once again proves that NSW is in the midst of an extreme rental crisis, the likes of which we’ve not seen for decades.
“We've got very, very low vacancy rates and frankly, I can't see where it's going to improve in the short term,” he said.
“In fact, I think it's going to get worse.”
It comes as the Reserve Bank confirmed last week that Australians can expect to see at least two more interest rate rises, after it lifted its official cash rate to 3.35 per cent - its highest level in just over a decade.
Ray White Deniliquin manages roughly 400 residential properties, but Mr Thomson said that they’ve started to notice a decline in those properties available to rent as a result of the consecutive interest rates rises.
“The number of residential properties available to rent is less because there's been a conversion of landlords, or investors, to owner occupiers,” he said.
The lack of rentals is also restricting Deniliquin’s job growth and contributing to some of the staff shortages in key industries such as teaching, trades and health.
“If there was more housing, there would be more jobs,” Mr Thomson said.
“The job growth has been restricted by the lack of rental properties.”
Deniliquin High School is one of the many public schools across the state to have been impacted by the ongoing teacher shortage and low rental vacancy rates.
Principal Glen Warren said because they can’t find any teachers locally, the high school relies on sourcing teachers from outside of Deniliquin.
He said the high school missed out on two teachers this year because he could not find rental accommodation for them.
“It just means you can’t get qualified teachers in to cover everything that’s needed,” he said.
“It’s hard to attract them to the rural areas, and then if you do, you’ve got to be able to house them.
“A big issue for us is getting accommodation for a teacher if we do find one.”
Mr Warren said he has found replacement teachers for the two who could not start - one from Bega and the other Sydney.
They are expected to start next week, providing accommodation can be secured.
Mrs Carmichael said she “one hundred per cent” noticed the regional boom in the Deniliquin property market since the beginning of the pandemic, but that the availability of rentals has not kept up with the demand.
“In regional locations, there are high quality jobs on offer but no housing to accommodate those people that want to secure those jobs,” she said.
“At the end of the day, our landlords and investors are needing to be motivated to continue investing, particularly in regional locations, to free up that rental market.
“I think this is a time where the government really needs to look very carefully at how to make the New South Wales housing market a more attractive place for investors, as really, the availability of housing is the nuts and bolts of it.”
Fleur Connick is a rural and regional reporter with The Guardian Australia, embedded with the Deniliquin Pastoral Times.