housing shortage – Michmutters

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Business

Regional WA tourist hotspots Broome and Busselton feeling the house price boom

A family of three walk along a beach to the backdrop of a sunset

Western Australia’s coastal holiday hotspots Broome and Busselton are experiencing surging house prices, with real estate agents reporting increased interest in regional living from city dwellers.

New data released by the Real Estate Institute of WA (REIWA) shows both locations were the top-performing regional centers in the June quarter.

Broome’s median house sale price lifted 4.7 per cent in the past three months to $649,000, while Busselton’s increased by 4.5 per cent to $610,000.

On an annual basis, both areas saw more than 15 per cent growth in housing prices.

REIWA deputy president Joe White said price growth was being driven by people migrating from the cities.

“The local market [in Broome] is strong and demand for property is high with many people moving to the regional center for a sea change,” he said.

“There is also the FIFO factor, with three companies now flying workers directly out of the Busselton Margaret River Airport.”

Four blue huts on a jetty overlooking the ocean.
Busselton is the most popular city south of Perth for real estate.(Flickr: Jean and Fred Hort)

‘Undervalued’ suburbs also booming

It is not just the popular seaside communities seeing growth — locations that are typically more affordable are also feeling the heat.

The suburb of Carey Park in Bunbury, two hours south of Perth, has normally had cheaper house prices, but local real estate agents said that it was starting to change.

A for sale sign in front of a house on a suburban street.
Real estate agents are accepting offers on houses in Carey Park before the first open home has even been held. (ABC South West WA: Anthony Pancia)

Bunbury-based agent Melanie Hurst said some areas had been overlooked until now.

“Carey Park, traditionally it’s been undervalued,” she said.

“Because for a long time rents were low, houses prices were low, but that has all changed probably in the last 18 months.”

REIWA south-west branch president Drew Carey agreed.

“I think probably those areas are going to enjoy a bit of a renaissance to get them up to what I would consider to be long overdue par value,” he said.

“I think longer term we’re going to continue to see prices continue to travel up in WA, at least compared to the eastern states.”

High prices not good for everyone

But the increase in housing prices puts more pressure on regional centers already experiencing housing stress.

A drone shot of a regional suburb with houses and trees and playgrounds
Experts say traditionally lower socio-economic suburbs like Carey Park have been undervalued until now. (ABC South West WA: Anthony Pancia)

Just Home Margaret River community development officer Geraldine Clark said her organization had seen an increase of people experiencing homelessness.

“There are very little rentals, very few houses for sale, and the prices of both are enormous,” she said.

“We’re not just lacking social housing and affordable housing, we’re lacking housing in all facets now.”

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Categories
Australia

Welfare agencies hand out tents on the Atherton Tablelands as housing crises worsens

a portrait of a man wearing a blue checked shirt and a cap

Most newcomers to Mareeba are enticed by wide open spaces and the promise of at least 300 sunny days a year but, like the rest of regional Australia, it too has a rental crisis.

For Guy Closset, the lure was the prospect of somewhere better to live than in a tent or beneath the condemned building of a disused school in Atherton.

“[My partner] was kicked out of where she was staying and I didn’t want her to be on the street by herself, so I ended up staying with her,” he said.

The couple had been in the Atherton Tablelands, which has one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in Queensland, at 0.2 per cent.

Mr Closset was already living precariously, having lost work when the pandemic broke out.

“I was staying with my mum but I was more couch surfing,” the experienced warehouseman and worker said.

“I was sleeping in the front room, you know, and then I met my partner.”

A crowded market

The move to Mareeba, a larger centre, has allowed Mr Closset and his pregnant partner to live more securely in a caravan at a tourist park, at a cost of $260 a week, while they search for a house.

But Mareeba’s rental vacancy rate is only marginally less tight – 0.3 per cent according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland.

A man wearing a patterned shirt stands in front of a yard
Robert Larkin says it’s become increasingly difficult to find properties for those in need.(ABC Far North Queensland: Christopher Testa)

“A lot of properties that were rented are now being sold, and the new owners are living in them,” Robert Larkin of Mareeba Community Housing said.

Mr Larkin, a housing supervisor who works with those experiencing homelessness, said his organization had about 200 clients on his books at any one time.

He knew of one woman spending 60 per cent of her income on rent.

No emergency accommodation

The shortage of available rentals has made it harder for housing organizations to provide emergency shelter for those in need.

Many have resorted to handing out tents to families with nowhere to go.

Miriam Newton-Gentle, ministry worker and leader of the Salvation Army on the Atherton Tablelands, said the lack of crisis options magnified the problem in the rural area.

“One of the big things is we have absolutely no emergency accommodation,” she said.

“We’ve got small hotels and motels but they can’t take people long term, so when people are rendered homeless, they are absolutely homeless.”

A blanket has been left beneath a wooden staircase of a Queenslander-style building
A camp set up beneath an abandoned building in Cairns.(ABC Far North Queensland: Brendan Mounter)

Mr Larkin said caravan parks were traditionally the “go-to” crisis accommodation of choice for providers in the Tablelands as they were an “easy transition for people who are sleeping rough”.

“But right now, caravan parks are full because we have a lot of travelers coming through with their own camper wagons and so there isn’t as much available,” he said.

“This is probably as tough as it’s been.”

A shortage of homes

The closest crisis accommodation to the Tablelands is in Cairns, just a short drive away.

But Far North Queensland’s largest center is battling the same problem and places are hard to come by.

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