Warrnambool's rental market is the tightest it has been in years, with agents desperate for listings.
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The latest data from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria reveals the vacancy rate is just 1.2 per cent.
Brian O'Halloran and Co real estate agent Brian Hancock said he does not have any houses available to lease.
It's something he has only experienced on a handful of occasions. "We don't have anything to rent in our office at this stage," Mr Hancock said.
"We have a list of potential tenants with applications but the stock is so short."
Wilsons Warrnambool and District office manager Cheryl McKenna is also keen to take on more listings. "At the moment we have one vacancy in Warrnambool," she said. "It's always been tight, but never this tight."
Ms McKenna said the short supply of housing had also pushed up the price of rent. "Properties which would have been rented out for about the $300 mark are now being leased for a lot more, which makes it unaffordable for a lot of people," she said. Ms McKenna said the office was being inundated with calls and visits from people looking for a place to rent.
Shaunie O'Connor Hollerhead knows first hand how difficult it is to secure a rental. She decided to move out of the place she was in due to the rising cost of rent and applied for a number of properties without success.
Ms O'Connor Hollerhead said she was shocked by the high amount of people attending the inspections of vacant properties. She thought she was going to have to move in her with mother, a situation she says many people she knows are experiencing. Ms O'Connor Hollerhead said she eventually found a rental, but fears other people are not as lucky.
Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell said she believed changes to residential tenancy laws had a lot to do with the shortage.
"The Labor Government's reforms have led to this unintended consequence and it's people in Warrnambool and the south-west who are being left without a place to call home," she said.
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