Voice of Real Australia: This is why regional Australia can't find workers

Journalism can take you funny places.

I am mid-way through a virtual secondment with an Australian Community Media (ACM) newspaper in Dubbo in NSW's Central West, and enjoying it so much that I wonder what it's like to live there.

Only, much of the news I've been writing has been about the regional rental crisis. And I'm renting.

This has been going on for a while now and, as I plug away on my keyboard from my home in north-west Sydney, I'm hearing about all sorts of pain for people like me in our regions.

One property analyst told me there is the least number of rentals available in Dubbo, ever. At least, since records began being taken in 2005.

The city has 54,000 people and according to the analyst, around 7000 renters could be competing for 27 advertised properties if they wanted to move this week.

That's nuts. In fact, he called it 'seagulls fighting over a chip'.

A local estate agent told me that she has up to 50 people applying for each property - so many, that if they don't fill out their lease application form properly, they don't even get a look in.

Meanwhile, the analyst said it would get worse: Dubbo was one of 54 regional centres where rent would likely rise by $100 per week on average this year.

All due to supply and demand.

It's concerning: the cities are too expensive, but are us renters going to be priced out of the regions soon as well?

But it gets crazier.

Take ACM's series of Race to the Regions articles. Every week, we hear more stories of couples and families flocking to places like Dubbo, tree-changing and living the good life.

Except they're not buying these properties to rent out; they're buying these properties to live in.

And the fallout from this is that not enough people are buying investment properties to rent out to other people - people like me.

Add to this the fact that the number of job vacancies in central NSW has reached new heights.

There aren't enough people in the regions to take these jobs - people need to move to these areas from the cities. But they can't if they can't find a place to live.

Maybe I'll watch this unfold for a while before committing to a move.

Otherwise, do I have any Dubbo friends out there with a spare lounge?

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