With Perth’s rental vacancy rate shooting for the stars:
The city is experiencing a new kind of boom:
SQUATTERS are taking advantage of Perth’s highest residential vacancy rate in 20 years by moving into empty rental homes and barricading themselves inside for weeks.
Trespassers were also changing locks, breaking door handles and threatening landlords to squat in empty rental properties or vacant homes that were up for sale…
EBM RentCover executive general manager Sharon Fox-Slater said WA was now the country’s hotspot for squatting problems…
“The downturn, high vacancy rate and number of job losses is taking its toll,” Ms Fox-Slater said…
With the Perth economy still miles from bottoming, and construction running well ahead of population growth (see next chart), the squatting boom is likely to last a few more years.
Welcome to the fourth stage of the mining boom: bust.
