Student housing on the Gold Coast at a premium as international enrolment skyrockets
Gold Coast residents are being urged to open their homes to international students in an attempt to help alleviate a shortage of rental properties in the city.
There has been an influx of overseas students in the city since international borders reopened last year, putting pressure on an already strained rental market.
In February 2022, there were 13,000 international students studying in the city.
This sharply increased to about 23,000 in October as the sector recovered from pandemic border closures.
The increased demand has prompted council-funded industry marketing body, Study Gold Coast, to urge local home owners to consider renting out their spare rooms to students.
The group has partnered with four homestay providers to set up an initiative called Host for the Coast that connects home owners with international students.
It's hoped the program will help address the tight rental market.
Interested parties will be matched with an overseas student by an approved homestay provider.
Home owners will have the option of choosing whether they offer short or long-term accommodation, as well as other arrangements including food and transport. In exchange, they could earn up to $325 per week.
Acting chief executive for Study Gold Coast Jennine Tax said the organisation was bracing for the "biggest influx of international students on the Gold Coast seen in four years" due to a surge in enrolments for the March intake.
She believes the homestay strategy will help to ease the demand for student accommodation.
"It's really just a wonderful opportunity to open your home to the world, to provide an opportunity for your family to have that cultural experience, and also for those families that might be suffering mortgage stress," Ms Tax said.
One homestay couple has said they have hosted more than 200 international students in their Gold Coast home over a 16-year period.
Mr Ulrichsen said renting a room out offered both social and financial benefits.
"It is a good income stream," he said.
"It will help alleviate the rental problems that people are having, and so forth because rents have gone through the roof."
Many purpose-built student accommodations apartments on the Gold Coast are already at capacity, including Varsity Towers in Robina and Nexus Place in Ashmore.
Clarion call for purpose-built, student accommodation to help cope with the looming influx of international students expected to arrive in the city.
Smith Collective in Southport, which offers more than 1,200 rental apartments and townhouses, has been "full for the past 12 months", according to general manager Matt Taplin.
"Students make up 20 per cent of the people that live here. We'd love to take in more, but there's only so much space," he said.
"Until people start building, nothing's going to change. I can't see demand softening in the next 18 months. Once you're full, your full."
It comes as the Chinese government recently announced its citizens would be banned from studying online with overseas institutions.
The move is expected to drive more Chinese students to study in person in Australia.
Despite the looming logistical challenges, Ms Tax welcomed the move.
"It's a win, because when our students are studying offshore compared to onshore we really miss that contribution that they make to our local community, to the campuses, and to our local economy," she said.
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