Home feels crowded for single mother Lisa Dodson.
She shares the rental property she lives in with her two adult sons, both their fiancées, and her mother Julie, making up to six adults in a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house. Most of them work full-time.
For Ms Dodson, competing in the market feels like "one battle after another", and new data reflecting a lack of rental vacancies unseen for more than a decade shows she is not alone.
The PropTrack market insight report found new rental listings between March and April this year were down 22 per cent, resulting in the fewest listings since 2009, apart from December when there is a seasonal drop in them.
Total listings were also down 10 per cent over the month.
The figures leave new listings 44 per cent below pre-pandemic levels in March 2020.
"[The rental market] is the worst I've ever seen, and I've been living in WA my whole life," Ms Dodson said.
"Mum is a single aged pensioner. She has no chance in the rental market at all. None."
Family dreams on hold
One of Ms Dodson's sons, Daniel, moved out about two years ago, but was driven back into her house after his home was broken into four times and as the rising cost of living took its toll.
She said her sons, both in their early 20s and working, had dreams of starting a family that were stymied by living in a crowded house and by not being able to find suitable rental accommodation.
"Their lives are on hold because they both want to have children one day, but at the moment they can't … the rental is high and so is a mortgage," Ms Dodson said.
She said her rent was worth two-thirds of her income after going up by $50 per week recently, and neither she, her sons or her mother would be able to afford to move out in the current market.
"I was a single mum for quite some time and wasn't working so that was a bit stressful, but this seems a lot worse," she said.
Lack of rentals 'out of the ordinary'
PropTrack director of economic research and report author Cameron Kusher said along with Melbourne, Perth was one of the worst places in Australia to rent.
"It's coming down to the fact that there's a lot of demand for rental accommodation, and there's nowhere near enough supply," he said.
"And as a result of that we're seeing that the properties, generally speaking, they've come up for rent and are being snapped up very quickly."
April usually sees a drop in rental stock, but the figures represented a situation "out of the ordinary", according to Mr Kusher.
"The number of properties available for rent in Perth in April was the fewest we've seen since December 2004," he said.
"That gives you some context as to how little stock there is available for rent.
"The Perth rental market is performing quite differently. We're seeing a more severe downturn in supply than what we're seeing at a national level."
He welcomed $511 million dollars for social housing and homelessness investment announced by the WA government in the recent budget, but said social and affordable housing was needed years ago, raising concerns about the people falling through the cracks in the system.
"People shouldn't be falling into homelessness in a country like Australia," he said.
Housing affordability crisis
The PropTrack data comes just weeks after a separate report by non-for-profit organisation Anglicare found a drought of affordable homes in every Australian state and territory.
Anglicare WA CEO Mark Glasson said the statistics on rental vacancies built on the report.
"The data comes as no surprise to use — it just reinforces what our Rental Affordability Snapshot found last month," he said.
"As concerning as this report is, the fact is the situation will get worse before it gets better.
"Tomorrow there will be more Western Australians in housing stress and families at risk of homelessness than there are today.
"We need to urgently boost the supply of private, public and community housing."
