Australia’s rental crisis: New low with rundown boat offered for $200 a week in Western Australia
Australia’s rental crisis was thought to have hit a new low when a living room tent hit the market, but new listings prove it can always be lower.
The place started to look cozy after a dilapidated boat was offered for $200 a week and, keeping the nautical theme, a shipping container has also hit the market.
The boat, which is moored in Western Australia, tried to drum up trade by offering “Living on 38ft yacht $200pw” in its ad. online advertisement.
‘One of the most beautiful spots in the Swan River near Fremantle,’ he added. ‘Hot water shower, storage room, kitchen … Couples accepted.’
The boat, located 11 miles southwest of Perth CBD, even comes with a small dinghy so the happy couple can get ashore without swimming ashore.
A derelict boat (pictured) has been offered for rent on the Swan River for $200 per week
A shipping container (pictured) and a caravan parking space (but no caravan) are also available for rent
The renter or renters will have to get their sea legs up pretty quickly, as the boat doesn’t look the most comfortable, with the bed like a mattress on the floor in the windowless bow of the boat.
An old sailor, Luke, likes the idea of living on a boat, as a year of interest rate hikes has left him with a $1,100 a week mortgage bill.
The pensioner told The West that “rather than downsizing, my go-to is a boat…I’d be pretty happy with that.”
He cautioned, however, that not every landlubber can automatically choose life on the high seas, or even moored on the Swan River.
“It’s romantic… but life on a boat has a reality,” he said. “They’re small, cramped.”
The Real Estate Institute of WA (REIWA) said Perth is in the midst of its worst rental crisis since the institute began tracking such records 43 years ago.
The bed is a mattress on the floor (pictured) a few steps up into the windowless bow of the boat
The boat (photo) comes with a dinghy so you can land dry without getting wet
The city’s vacancy rate is 0.7 percent, though it was even worse last December at 0.6 percent.
Other unusual rental offers in WA include $200 to rent a caravan parking space in the backyard of a Yanchep home – caravan not included, but the spot did have access to water and sewage.
Several people have offered to let people set up a tent in their backyard, but for those who like the idea of a tent but not the outdoor atmosphere, the solution came with a tent in a family’s apartment.
The disadvantage was that the husband, wife and two children would also live in the unit, but the advantage was that you had your own bathroom.
Unlike the Swan River boat which was advertised as suitable for a couple, the Melbourne tent was only suitable for single occupancy.
If that sounded up your street, the cost was quite a bit higher than a riverboat costing $350 a week for the tent, which is $18,200 a year.
A family of four in Melbourne offers a tent (pictured) in their apartment to a single person for $350 a week, which works out to $18,200 a year
The ad gave others ideas on how to make money from their own properties.
I could rent out my driveway to a caravan, backyard to tents, double bunks in my 4 bedrooms,” one wrote.
Another said they would live in their two-person tent and rent the second room in it.
It wasn’t until a few days later, 3,418 kilometers away, that someone thought of renting out his boat.