Calls for empty nesters to rent spare rooms out
LOS ANGELES: There is a growing call for empty nesters to rent out their spare rooms to accommodate other generations.
When Rachael Willshaw arrived in Perth with her three young children three weeks ago, she knew finding a rental might prove a challenge – but as she battles family after family for a place to live, Ms Willshaw has been left wondering why the competition is so fierce.
New research looking into Perth’s rental crisis seems to have found part of the answer for the mum-of-three as it’s revealed more than half (59 per cent) of Perth’s 460,000 homes have at least one bedroom sitting empty and collecting dust.
The research, from CygnetWest, found there were 742,000 spare bedrooms across the city – equating to about 225,000 homes.
The thousands of empty homes has led to calls for empty nesters – older Australians whose kids have moved out – to open up their homes and lease empty rooms in a bid to help solve the State’s rental crisis.
While Ms Willshaw said she was getting more desperate as time went on, she could understand why empty nesters might be unwilling to fill their house again.
“I can imagine people would be nervous to do it (rent their property), especially if you’re older because you might put yourself in a vulnerable situation with a stranger you don’t know,” she said.
“But then of course, you could open yourself up to one of the best friendships of your life. From a social aspect, I’m sure it would be very beneficial.”
Ms Willshaw said navigating the Perth rental market had been “stressful” and its “impersonal” system of online applications had made things harder.
“We are fresh from England, so the system we’re used to is really different and more personal — we’ve been finding it a really strange experience,” she said.
“When you’re in one really limited time slot and everybody is asked to go around the house with really stressed-out looks on their faces everybody you see is a potential barrier between you and your home.”
Ms Willshaw and her family have been staying in an Airbnb while they try to find a place with costs only adding up as time went on.
Cygnet West Head of Research Quyen Quach said Perth’s record for having the most underutilised housing stock in the country was due in part to the well-publicised empty nester syndrome in “established localities.”
“If some of these spare bedrooms can be freed up to the rental market, or adult children temporarily moving back into ‘empty nest’ for an interim period, dwelling availability could be notably increased while supply catches up with demand,” Mr Quach said.
Housemates Byron Wheeler, 30, and Marlea Evans, 27, said although they were unwilling to move back in with their parents due to commitments in Perth, homeowners who were prepared to open their doors to renters would dramatically ease the pressure.
“There seems to be no consistency with how (rental) properties are valued at the moment, (and) part of that might just be homeowners are desperately trying to pay off their mortgage, or that they are trying to see what they can get away with,” said Mr Wheeler.
For Ms Evans, the prospect of living on a couch remains a possibility if she is unable to secure a rental.
“We just keep looking at houses and saying, ‘how can they charge this much for something that is really quite terrible?’,” said Ms Evans.
Analysis of 2021 Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics by Cygnet West found 59 per cent of Perth homes had unused bedrooms, compared to 43 per cent in Sydney.
Mr Quach said a potential solution to Perth’s rental crisis would be a more efficient use of existing dwellings.
“By encouraging homeowners to utilise unused bedrooms, the existing housing stock can effectively accommodate more individuals and families, effectively expanding the available housing supply without requiring new construction,” Mr Quach said.
“It is an approach that should have been implemented sooner, before more drastic and potentially counterproductive measures such as rental caps and rental freezes were suggested.”
Mr Quach said other factors behind the spare bedrooms trend was the rise of the home office, home gyms and guest rooms.
“There are also young households in the family building stage with spare bedrooms for future family expansion,” Mr Quach said.
Mr Quach acknowledged, however, that renting out a spare bedroom would not be a solution that would be palatable for everyone.
“To increase utilisation, existing owners will need to be educated and encouraged, which could be achieved through tax and regulatory changes that would provide additional financial benefits,” he said.
“Increasing household density will undoubtedly bring about social challenges, but it may also help some people learn to be more considerate and tolerant.”