WA’s mining-inspired boom is continuing to cause an accommodation crisis that has left many van parks bursting at the seams.
Perth Now reports that metropolitan caravan parks are at, or near, capacity with most campers not being holidaymakers, but residents unable to find a rental. The Real Estate Institute of WA says Perth rents have jumped 10% in a year, with the median price now $420 a week and the official vacancy rate just 1.6%.
Real estate agents report crowds of 50 or more would-be tenants turning up at home opens, and rental bidding wars becoming the norm.
With highly paid fly-in, fly-out workers unable to find a place to rent and competing with each other even to find a place to park a caravan or pitch a tent, many grey nomads seeking to spend a night or two in the city have been fighting an uphill battle.
At Crystal Brook Caravan Park in Orange Grove, southeast of Perth, the manager told Peth Now that campers were “screaming” for accommodation but there was simply no more room. And prices have been on the up and up.
Perth Now reports that a patch of grass at Perth Vineyards Holiday Park in the Swan Valley is costing campers $240 a week for a powered site or $192 per week for an unpowered site. A powered tent site at Central Caravan Park in Ascot is $273 a week.
