During COVID-19 lockdowns, Katie Vogel noticed most of the houses in her seaside neighbourhood were empty.
The notion of unoccupied holiday homes continued to play on her mind when she couldn't find a rental in the tight NSW south coast market in April.
"No one lives in them, but the owners aren't willing to rent them out during the year," Ms Vogel told AAP.
"They just want to list them on AirBnB in peak times."
Ms Vogel, who works in retail, tried renting in Mollymook and Kiama, but both areas were in high demand from families who moved from Sydney in the rush to the regions during the height of the pandemic.
She moved interstate to Torquay, in Victoria, for its similar lifestyle and better options for share houses. The 31-year-old is living with two housemates and paying $950 a month rent, the most she can afford as a single person on a low income.
"It's the Baby Boomers' market because they're the ones who bought all the houses my generation is renting. We're paying rent back to them."
Both coastal NSW and regional Victoria have been singled out for their expensive markets in the Rental Affordability Index released on Tuesday, which examines the cost of housing in the wake of COVID-19.
The annual report said more regional households are facing unaffordable rents and key workers cannot find homes, particularly in NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and WA.
Widespread and repeated disasters like bushfires and floods have decreased existing stock and stalled new development, issues compounded by more people moving from the city to the country to escape lockdown restrictions.
The report said rental affordability is a national problem as tax incentives encourage real estate investments, pushing middle and high-income households into the rental market and squeezing out low-income earners.
National Shelter, an organisation behind the report, said regional rental affordability is the worst it has ever been.
Chief executive Emma Greenhalgh said it has wide-ranging effects in regional areas.
"It could mean they lose teachers, or nurses or someone in construction, or from local government," she said.
"It has implications for the whole community."
Ron Maxwell, chief executive of regional training provider Verto, said the organisation's tenancy advice service had an 80 per cent increase in calls about rent rises over the last year.
There was a 146 per cent increase in queries about no-grounds evictions in central west NSW, a region highlighted in the report for increasingly unaffordable markets in towns like Orange and Mudgee.
"We're seeing a property will go back on the rental market a couple of weeks later, at a significantly higher rent," Mr Maxwell said.
"That really affects the vulnerable people in regional communities."
Ms Greenhalgh said low-income households are often forced to choose between paying for housing or other essentials.
"It could mean they're going without food or reducing their energy intake or fuel, so it's more than just a rental crisis," she said.
The report prompted many community service organisations to renew calls for more social and affordable housing, and to raise Commonwealth Rent Assistance.
The federal government has drafted a new Housing Accord, which includes building a million new homes in five years from 2024 and a $10 billion fund to build 30,000 new social and affordable housing properties.
Ms Vogel expects to navigate the rental market for the rest of her life.
"Everything is continuing to be bought by people my parents' age.
"I won't be able to afford to buy, ever."
