Tasmanian renters share struggle as vacancy rates dive

Despite being granted four extra weeks by the landlord Ms Jones had no option but to move her family into a shelter.

"It broke me, but I knew it was going to be tough," she said.

Ms Jones said she had applied for about 30 places on the Coast since January and sought feedback on why she was yet to be accepted for a property.

However, she is starting to doubt whether she will be find somewhere through an agent or will have to join the social housing wait list.

"That was going to be home until I could find a home to buy," she said.

"I have been looking for a place for four months, but all the real estates reject everything.

"It is really sad and hard. I believe my best chance is through housing which makes me sad.

"I am not confident I am going to get anything through the real estate agents.

"I think they see my application as a single mother of three boys and disregard it.

"I know there are plenty of people in the same position and that I am not the only one."

Jacci Davis counts herself lucky she has been able to find a rental property 30 minutes outside of Devonport after having to rely on family for accommodation after the lease of her family home ended.

Ms Davis was in tears when the real estate agent rang with the good news but it was seeing her seven-year-old boy tear up that drove home the impact it had on all involved.

"I don't think people understand how it affects everyone," she said. "He is a bubbly boy, but I noticed just how low he was.

"I have never been in that situation before and I felt like I was failing my family because I couldn't do anything about it, nothing was working.

"I have been out of home for 30 years and rented that whole time and have never been in a situation like this before.

"For the first few weeks I was looking in Devonport but there were not a lot so I looked all the way along the Coast and was applying for places as far as Wynyard."

Ms Davis said her only advice to others struggling to secure a rental was to keep going.

"It is so hard and disheartening," she said. "You go to a property and there could be 50-80 couples there with you and there are not enough properties out there.

Vacancy rates on the North-West Coast are the lowest they have been since 2008 at 2.1 per cent.

That's according to the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania report for the March quarter.

Meanwhile, Launceston recorded its lowest vacancy rate at 1.3 per cent and rents across all regions reportedly increased by between $5 and $30 per week compared to the same time last year.

This is coupled with an increase of 28.5 per cent to the median house price on the North-West to $379,000 and an increase of 11.4 per cent to $420,000 in Launceston.

In the March quarter Devonport recorded the most transactions in the state at 75 while coastal towns also rated high with 37 at Smithton, 33 at Ulverstone and 28 at Penguin.

While from a municipal perspective, Launceston led the way with 355 sales worth $145,425,759.

My Coast Realty principal Vanessa Goodwin is seeing first hand the impact of the low vacancy rates.

"We are dealing with a lot more owner occupiers and a lot less investors and that has probably been the hardest thing for the rental market," she said.

"It is definitely a high buyer demand with low stock. It is a really good time to be selling but not buying. It is the lowest amount of stock we have had and when properties are listed they are moving quickly."

Ms Goodwin said it wasn't uncommon to have a property on the market to under contract within 14 days in comparison to the 30 to 45 days it has previously taken.

"It is interesting, people will say it is interstate buyers driving it but it is not, it is the local buyers. We are getting interstate in dribs and drabs but they are getting disheartened because they are coming here but then they can't find anything."

REIT president Mandy Welling said the numbers indicated the market was being driven by Tasmanians.

"What we are noticing is a growing trend of increased levels of activity across all regional areas of the state. In particular, increased activity in the North West which had been struggling for so long," she said.

"We have a resurgent market and are struggling to find the stock we need to satisfy our buyer and rental needs.

"As there are no quick fixes to the stock and rental shortages, we will continue to see upward pressure on property prices and rents."

In Burnie 120 people have sought shelter at the Salvation Army Safe Space since it opened in July.

Coordinator Nathan Hughes said it was successfully providing crisis accommodation for homeless Tasmanians and helping people find a long-term solution.

"We have had over 120 individuals through the space since starting and a lot of those people have moved on to permanent accommodation," he said.

"We know there is a demand and it is hard to keep up with what is required. We are receiving referrals when we are at capacity but we can refer on. It has filled a gap that wasn't there previously and I don't know what people would do without this program."

Mr Hughes said it was becoming more unattainable for people to maintain their living standards.

"It is difficult for the people that are experiencing it for the first time. We are well equipped to help guide them through operators they might not be aware of and connect them to services to get them out of crisis," he said.

Shane Leonard advocates for young people seeking housing as accommodation services team leader at Youth Family and Community Connections based in Devonport.

TFCC have 24 properties young people can lease on the Coast while working with transitional services but the houses are always full.

Mr Leonard said having his team network with landlords and advise young people on what it takes to be a good tenant was crucial in such a competitive rental market.

"Burnie and Devonport have historically had low vacancy rates but in the last 12 to 18 months it has got worse and our cohort is not traditionally the wanted cohort because they are young people in their first tenancy, so not a favourite among landlords," he said.

"People automatically see someone that is homeless and associate them with other things that can come with it, but that is not typically correct because they are working and attending school but they just don't have a continuous roof over their head."