News Corp Australia Network
Top-enders shell out an average of $350 a week to rent a room in Darwin’s most expensive suburbs, with new data showing more Australians are turning to shared housing to combat cost-of-living pressures. There is.
Flatmates.com.au’s national shared accommodation survey found that almost a quarter (23%) of its 10,300 respondents entered the shared accommodation market for the first time in the past year.
Almost half (48%) entered the market as renters or room lenders because they could not afford to live alone.
Flatmates.com.au community manager Claudia Conley said Australians were looking for new ways to overcome the rental crisis and cope with rising costs of living.
“Over the past year, our audience has grown in size and diversity, and with peak season for shared accommodation just around the corner, we expect demand for shared house living to increase.” she said.
According to data from Flatmates.com.au, the most expensive Darwin suburbs to rent a room are in the city and Larrakeya, with an average weekly price of $350.
Next were Nightcliff ($340), Coconut Grove ($325), Bayview, Milner, Rosebery and Stuart Park ($300).
According to the latest rental data from PropTrack, the median home rent in Darwin is $650 and the median house rent is $510.
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According to the survey, 86% of homeowners listed their home as a shared home for financial reasons, and 67% said it was due to rising interest rates.
Almost half (47%) of homeowners surveyed listed a unit for rent for the first time in the past 12 months.
“Currently, the median rent for a room in a shared house nationwide is $290 a week, making renting out a spare room an attractive means for many homeowners to offset rising rents. “There are,” Conley said.
“Not only does it bring in additional income, but it also helps increase the limited supply of rentable rooms.”
Conley said the study shows that shared housing demographics have evolved due to the country’s difficult rental environment and continued affordability pressures.
Flatmates.com.au’s number of members aged 55 to 64 has surged by 21% in the past year, making this group the fastest growing age group on the platform.
The 65-74 age group came in second place, an increase of 13% from the 2022 survey.
“Shared accommodation is a long-term, legitimate way of living for many Australians, and we expect it to remain popular until more housing is built to meet rental demand,” Conley said. said.