Penola has seen a turnaround in its rental market, with a positive shift in the town’s real estate landscape.
TDC Livestock and Property property manager Megan McGuinness said the rental situation in Penola was easing and was better than this time last year.
Ms McGuinness said she currently had three vacant properties and another available within the next two weeks, along with others over the last few months.
However, many people did not seem to be applying.
“A lot of people ring up and ask me about them when they are advertised, but they are not returning applications,” she said.
“I see on Facebook everywhere that people are looking for a home, but they’re not speaking to real estate agents. I find it really odd.
“Nobody can get a house and I have got vacant houses.
“The advice I would give people would be to go and speak to a real estate agent if you’re looking for a house.”
Ms McGuinness said the current median rental price in Penola was about $300 for a three bedroom, one bathroom home.
Ms McGuinness believed there were multiple factors contributing to the improvement in the rental situation and the increased availability of properties on the market.
“I think in Penola, we have had a couple of wineries close down and people have been made redundant, or moving away, I think people are not as confident as what they were,” she said.
Ms McGuinness had observed real estate agents starting to advertise properties on Facebook, however this was not the case recently as houses were claimed before they hit the market.
“Real estate agents were not previously advertising because we had a list of tenants, and as soon as a house became available I would contact one of them and they would take the property,” she said.
“Six to eight months ago, as soon as someone would say they were vacating the property, I had people I could contact and people would grab it straight away.
“Probably in the last four to five months I have always had at least two or three properties that are vacant and I’m looking to fill, but before that it was pretty much zero.
“We do have a few people on the waitlist, but also I have to do my due diligence and check references and things like that.
“It also comes down to getting the right tenant; the tenant has to fit the property.
