The rental squeeze is tightening across the country and more and more Australians are trapped.
So, how bad is it out there?
Maddy Parsons never thought it'd turn out this way.
For almost 15 years she's been a renter, jumping from share house to share house, moving, she reckons, "about 13 times".
From the "good old days" in the late 2000s, when $60 a week got you a good room in a good house, Maddy has watched rents in her hometown of Hobart skyrocket, creeping closer and closer to unaffordability.
Today, she's packing up her things and saying goodbye to share house living for good.
At 38, she says she's become "a little old" for it all — and the end of her lease, coupled with a rent increase, has forced her hand.
But Maddy's next move isn't buying. As a single retail worker she says she can't afford that.
She's not renting her own place either — again, in Hobart, that's out of her price range.
Maddy's simply had enough; she's moving an hour out of Hobart, back to her mum and dad's property.
And into the shed.
"It’s mixed feelings," she says.
"It's definitely not the trajectory I imagined. But I'll finally have a space without the fear of it being taken away, without the fear of being evicted.
"I’m lucky. I have the opportunity to do this before it gets really bad, I can see that's the way things are going with renting.
“I know there’s a lot of people who are worse off than me who haven’t got that opportunity — they haven't got a shed they can move into."
The squeeze
Across Australia, stories like Maddy's are becoming normal.
And the Rental Affordability Index Report, released today, shows why.
The annual report, from SGS Economics and Planning and National Shelter, found renting has become less affordable in every single Australian city this year compared to 2021, with Hobart sitting at the bottom of the ladder as the least-affordable city in the country.
Brisbane and Hobart are the least affordable they've ever been, and Perth is at its worst level since 2016.
It's equally grim outside the cities. Rentals in regional Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and NSW are sitting at unprecedented levels of unaffordability.
For Emma Greenhalgh, a contributor to the report and chief executive of housing advocacy group National Shelter, it comes as no surprise.
"I talk to people on the front lines, people who've been working in this space for decades, and they say right now is the worst they've ever seen it — and I'd agree," she says.
"It's across Australia now, it's everywhere, and it's impacting a broad range of income levels."
The ABC spoke to dozens of renters across Australia, from the capital cities to the regions, to find out what's going on.
Those in secure rentals say they're constantly on edge, bracing for rental increases, lease termination notices or simply waiting for repairs to be done.
Those hunting for a home talk of a Hunger Games-style application process, with huge crowds lining up for viewings and months spent on the hunt scouring the market.
Right now, the quest to find somewhere to live can be a soul-shattering experience.
And these Australians know it all too well.
Mohammed Qureshi, 37, project engineer.
Moved from Melbourne to Perth. Spent two months in a spare room, applying for "about 50" properties, before finding a place for his family through Facebook.
"The crowds were insane, I'd say on average 30 to 40 people at each one I went to. I'd apply, then the agent would ask for more money. I didn't want to offer more, but I knew other people were …
"This place is a long way from work for me, but my prayers were answered — my family are stuck in Melbourne, I was desperate to find a home so I could bring them over."
Jill Ruchel, 62, freelance writer, North Melbourne.
Landlord asked for a $255 per week rent increase.
“I got a good deal during COVID. I knew it was fairly cheap and I knew it would go up. But I wasn't expecting it to be that much.
"I've got to be out in a couple weeks, it's scary having to find a place with my needs. The thing that gets me about renting is the insecurity, they just kick you out. It's terrifying how easy it is to do that".
Supply and demand
The reasons behind Australia's rental squeeze are broad and multifaceted.
For one, experts say the opening of the borders post-COVID has meant a renewed influx of students and migrants into the country, putting extra pressure on a limited supply of rental properties.
In September the ABC found vacancy rates had sunk to record lows and prices were at record highs.
Agents told the ABC tenants are staying put where they can, knowing how tight the market is, meaning there's simply less stock for more people, resulting in bidding wars.
In addition, rising interest rates have resulted in landlords, in some cases, passing on the difference to their tenants.
"We're seeing prices set [according to] people's desperation for a home," National Association of Tenants Organisations spokesperson Leo Patterson Ross says.
"That means people are overpaying and that price is being leveraged. That's not a sound way to run any market, but it's particularly bad to put it into an essential service market."
Stuart King, 48, government ranger, Brisbane.
Pushed out of rental property after owner decided to sell.
"I'm a middle-aged parent earning $100,000 per year — more than the average wage — and was repeatedly rejected for rental properties. It's humiliating — I was contemplating caravans.
"I eventually found a place, but in the past two years I've gone from a 2-bed, 2-bathroom apartment for $460 per week, to a one-bedroom apartment for $500 per week. What's next? A share house, at my age?"
The regional rut
According to the report, Australians renting in the regions are being hit the hardest out of anyone.
Once a safety net for lower-income earners who couldn't afford a place in the city, the report shows the regions have suffered under the weight of internal migration, or the "tree changer" phenomenon.
The proliferation of private holiday rentals has also become a major issue, according to National Shelter, with Ms Greenhalgh saying it is a major contributor to the "double impact" of "affordability and supply".
"Vacancy rates are functionally zero, less than one per cent, in some regions it's 0.1 or 0.2 per cent," she says.
"It's highly competitive, and landlords and agents are able to ask whatever [price] they like."
Karen Warren, pensioner, Batehaven, regional NSW.
Kicked out of long-term home and forced to move 2.5 hours north of her hometown of 30 years, Merimbula, to find an affordable rental.
"I was chucked out of home for greed, that's what I reckon. They're money-grabbing mongrels as far as I'm concerned.
"I'd love to go back to Merimbula to be closer to my family but I can't afford it. The rent there's too much."
Investors first, renters second
According to Mr Patterson Ross, "these are not normal times".
"We're really going back to times like the Great Depression to find comparable points in Australian history of when it was so tough to be a renter in Australia," he says.
The issue at its core, he says, is that housing in Australia has turned into "an investment strategy first" with homes a by-product of that — "if you're lucky".
"This is the fundamental issue: we don't have enough homes that are actually affordable for those looking for them," he says.
This was backed up in the report, which identified investor-friendly tax breaks such as the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing as "trapping" renters in the market.
It said investors had kept would-be home owners out of the market, meaning more households on higher incomes were renting for longer.
"This impacts lower income renters by driving up rents," the report said.
The Albanese government has so far brushed aside any plans to amend the taxes, instead focusing on building social housing as a priority.
It revealed a plan to build 10,000 extra affordable homes, starting in mid-2024. It has "aspirational target" of 1 million affordable rental homes, with the superannuation sector being asked to help.
Ms Greenhalgh says it is a "good start".
However, in the short term, she says the lack of security around renting — and the power imbalance between renters and landlords — is creating major anxiety for many communities.
"We'd like to see a national framework of rental reform that provides tenants with a greater security of tenure, and greater affordability, for example, capping rents, so price rises are not so arbitrary,” she says.
"Coming up to Christmas, we do find that there's [more demand] and property owners evict tenants under no-clause evictions.
"It creates so much stress and so much anxiety."
Linda Tomlinson, 49, jobseeker, Campbelltown, Sydney.
Handed eviction notice after 16 years. She needs to be out on December 21, four days before Christmas.
"I'm a single mum, and there is literally nothing I can afford out there in this market. I don't know what I'm going to do.
"There's one caravan park in the area, and that's full. I've been telling my kids we'll go on an extended camping trip for six months. It's so, so stressful."
'Good wishes and gaffer tape'
Back in regional Tasmania, Maddy Parsons is slowly moving her stuff into the shed.
Above her there's a swallow's nest, microbats have made it their own and it's held together by "good wishes and gaffer tape", but Maddy isn't fazed.
She has big plans to turn it into a home — her home.
And even though it's a shed, for Maddy it's security: something she hasn't experienced in a long time.
"I've gotten out of the rental cycle, but I hate where everything's going," she says
"I don't like that my friends around me, and other people who are in this situation don't have somewhere to go, it shouldn't have got to this point.
"We need to do something about it."
Credits
Reporting, digital production and additional photography: Nick Sas
Photography: Luke Bowden, Brendan Esposito, Cason Ho, Danielle Bonica, Lucas Hill, Steve King
Opening image: Emma Machan
