3 ms·

Veering off-topic, but how do people in Australia rent apartments? It seems the answer is NOT "craigslist." Also, from just walking around Melbourne and Hobart

by rdouble 16y ago

Veering off-topic, but how do people in Australia rent apartments? It seems the answer is NOT "craigslist." Also, from just walking around Melbourne and Hobart, it seems that Australian cities are more ownership oriented than major American cities. I've seen maybe 2 "for rent" signs. Am I just not seeing the rentals?

cletus 16y ago
In America it's common for one company or landlord to manage an entire building. In Australia that's extremely rare. In NYC for example, you have co-op buildings, which is a new concept to me. Australia really has no equivalent. Pretty much all apartments in Australia are "condos" in American nomenclature (it's not a word Australians use). Real estate agents list properties for rent, typically in their windows, on their website, in the newspaper and/or on one or both of the big property websites (RealEstate.com.au and domain.com.au). That's one thing I like: when looking for a rental you only really need to check those two sites. It's unusual to put a "for rent" (or "for lease") sign up. "For sale" sure. You can rent something directly from the owner but it's reasonably unusual. Even if the owner finds a tenant they'll typically use a real estate agent to manage the property (do inspections, organize maintenance, take the rent and so on). So anyway, the lack of rental signs doesn't mean anything. In my experience you only see them in front of larger buildings on the lower end of the economic scale.
timcederman 16y ago
Last time I had to rent in Australia, which was 5 years ago, it was a combination of the newspaper and property managers. I went to each real estate agent in the area I wanted to rent, and they each had a large list of every property available in the area. Some they had keys for, which they gave you in exchange for your ID, so you could go look at them on the spot. It's a lot more common in Australia for people to use property managers, and a lot less common to have large commercial rental properties. I believe gumtree.com.au and housemates.com.au are both popular now.
light3 16y ago
It's very similar to craiglist actually, theres many sites that advertise privately rented houses and shared rooms, e.g http://gumtree.com.au http://gumtree.com.au
brc 16y ago
Very few 'For Rent' signs because most Australian cities have a rental shortage, at least in the heart of the city. I have a property in Brisbane that has been vacant for 3 weeks in the last 10 years. It is highly unusual for it to be vacant between tenancies. The reasons are varied, but increased planning laws and high immigration means that the supply of city properties is not keeping up with demand. And yes, home ownership is very big in Australia.

by rdouble 16y ago

cletus 16y ago

In America it's common for one company or landlord to manage an entire building. In Australia that's extremely rare. In NYC for example, you have co-op buildings, which is a new concept to me. Australia really has no equivalent. Pretty much all apartments in Australia are "condos" in American nomenclature (it's not a word Australians use). Real estate agents list properties for rent, typically in their windows, on their website, in the newspaper and/or on one or both of the big property websites (RealEstate.com.au and domain.com.au). That's one thing I like: when looking for a rental you only really need to check those two sites. It's unusual to put a "for rent" (or "for lease") sign up. "For sale" sure. You can rent something directly from the owner but it's reasonably unusual. Even if the owner finds a tenant they'll typically use a real estate agent to manage the property (do inspections, organize maintenance, take the rent and so on). So anyway, the lack of rental signs doesn't mean anything. In my experience you only see them in front of larger buildings on the lower end of the economic scale.

timcederman 16y ago

Last time I had to rent in Australia, which was 5 years ago, it was a combination of the newspaper and property managers. I went to each real estate agent in the area I wanted to rent, and they each had a large list of every property available in the area. Some they had keys for, which they gave you in exchange for your ID, so you could go look at them on the spot. It's a lot more common in Australia for people to use property managers, and a lot less common to have large commercial rental properties. I believe gumtree.com.au and housemates.com.au are both popular now.

light3 16y ago

It's very similar to craiglist actually, theres many sites that advertise privately rented houses and shared rooms, e.g http://gumtree.com.au http://gumtree.com.au

brc 16y ago

Very few 'For Rent' signs because most Australian cities have a rental shortage, at least in the heart of the city. I have a property in Brisbane that has been vacant for 3 weeks in the last 10 years. It is highly unusual for it to be vacant between tenancies. The reasons are varied, but increased planning laws and high immigration means that the supply of city properties is not keeping up with demand. And yes, home ownership is very big in Australia.