Longtime LNP donor sells island escape but keeps its neighbour

This sharehouse at R6/302 Kelvin Grove Rd, Kelvin Grove, has rooms for $160 a week, available now.

---

Flatmates community manager, Claudia Conley, said the national share accommodation survey found that 35 per cent of Qld respondents were looking for a new home during this competitive market – a quarter of whom said it was taking much longer than usual.

“A quarter of Queenslanders had to settle on a place that wasn’t right for them, that didn’t suit their needs, just to avoid homelessness. across the state,” she said. “A third said they’ve had to pay more rent than expected to secure the home.”

“About 25 per cent of Qlders say the best thing about living in a share house is the cheap rent and 25 per cent said the best thing is you can decrease your cost of living, so 50 per cent stay in share houses for financial reasons.”

Nationally more than 45 per cent of those surveyed said their rent had increased in their sharehouse in the past six months – more than half of which was more than expected.

Every second person surveyed said they and their flatmates were now struggling to pay rent, with almost two thirds putting new rules in to cut shared costs including cooking meals together, lower heater use, and working or studying away from home.

Some sharehouse mates have taken to studying and working from outside the home to cut down electricity costs.

---

“Qld received a lot of new migrants from Melbourne and Sydney, but since the world opened up again those people haven’t moved back, which has created a really competitive rental market up there,” Ms Conley said.

A diverse group of people now live in share accommodation in Qld, though the largest group on Flatmates.com.au was people under the age of 35, some of whom worked full-time but most working part-time or casually.

Ms Conley said the peak season for sharehousing was December to February, with 50,000 new members added to Flatmates.com.au last month, 60 per cent of whom were looking for accommodation and 15 per cent who were offering it.

“There are more than enough homes in Australia for everyone to have a place to live. We just want to try to encourage people, empty nesters or people who might have a spare room or two, to think about renting out their spare room as a way to not only take pressure off the rental market but it’s also a great opportunity to have a nice side hustle, earn an additional income stream or help pay off their mortgage.”

“We have a large amount of live-in landlords who use Flatmates to rent out their spare room and we’d love to see more of that to take pressure off this rental market at the moment,” Ms Conley said.

Brisbane share accommodation listings on flatmates.com.au show 5329 results with a range of prices including $400 a week in Brisbane CBD with views of the river and all bills included.

FOLLOW SOPHIE FOSTER ON TWITTER