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<\/p>\nAmber Barry and Saxon O’Neill should not be struggling to find a rental.<\/p>\n
The nurse and electrician, both 21, have secure, full-time employment and earn more than enough to afford a local rental property.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On paper, the couple are dream tenants.<\/p>\n
But more than six months of searching for a rental on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has given them a harsh reality check.<\/p>\n
“We just kept getting knocked back, over and over and over,” Ms Barry said.<\/p>\n
“We kept putting our budget up higher, but still rejection all the time.”<\/p>\n
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Amber Barry and Saxon O’Neill were looking for rentals across an almost 40-kilometre stretch of the Sunshine Coast. (ABC News: Lisa Batty)<\/p>\n
Then at one inspection, the couple asked the property agent for advice on how to improve their application and their chances.<\/p>\n
“She pretty much said that the owners can put in requests for who they want in the place and most of the time it’s young families or older couples,” Ms Barry said.<\/p>\n
“She actually said, ‘We don’t want people like you two.'”<\/p>\n
Mr O’Neill described the words as a “stab in the heart”.<\/p>\n
“It was our age and not so much our occupation, because we are making more than enough money to be able to qualify for these homes,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We’re working 40 hours a week. Amber has rental experience. I can only imagine that people our age that, say, are working part-time and doing uni, they have no chance.”<\/p>\n
Tough competition<\/p>\n
Sunshine Coast real estate agent Matt Diesel said in a tight rental market, even strong applicants missed out.<\/p>\n
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Matt Diesel says when rental competition is high, even strong applicants miss out. (ABC News: Owen Jacques)<\/p>\n
“There could be one or two outstanding applications that are knocking out really strong, good applications that typically in a normal rental market have no problem getting a property,” he said.<\/p>\n
The rental vacancy rate on the Sunshine Coast is less than 1 per cent, a figure Mr Diesel called “critically low”.<\/p>\n
Sunshine Coast residents forced out <\/a><\/p>\n Long-time resident Narelle Lockett has left the area because she cannot find an affordable place to live. Despite the region’s housing crisis, multiple developments are being put on pause or knocked back.<\/p>\n Mr Diesel said he did not believe age was the reason young people were missing out on rental properties, but a lack of rental history could be a factor.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The people that may not have the best rental history. They’re the ones that are struggling the most at present,” he said.<\/p>\n Mr Diesel said property managers were looking for applicants with stability, consistency and continuity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Young people pushed out<\/p>\n Fiona Caniglia said it was unfortunate those qualities were no longer enough to secure a rental.<\/p>\n Fiona Caniglia says society is impacted when young people and essential workers cannot get rentals in their communities. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)<\/p>\n Ms Caniglia heads Q Shelter, a not-for-profit group that advocates on housing and homelessness.<\/p>\n She said more young people from different backgrounds were struggling to find a place to rent.<\/p>\n Why millennials and gen Z feel ripped off by this budget<\/a><\/p>\n The prime minister says this budget is about fixing intergenerational inequality, but online, gen Z and the millennials are hearing a different narrative.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We have key workers and other really important people to our economy unable to afford the private rental market as it currently stands,” Ms Caniglia said.<\/p>\n “If we are relying on them so much for our communities to work, then they need to be able to rely on all of us to pull together the housing response that they need.”<\/p>\n Ms Caniglia said the current housing crisis was putting pressure on many types of households, but young people were particularly vulnerable.<\/p>\n “We are seeing a growing concern about young people and homelessness, which is not acceptable when you consider that they are our future,” she said.<\/p>\n “Young people are also vulnerable because they don’t have that rental history, their incomes are generally lower as they scale up into their jobs and gain experience.”<\/p>\n Ms Caniglia said every tier of government needed to be working to ensure there was enough housing supply for all types of households.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8a16d108f175c352b8da711a2eb0e30f.jpeg\")
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