By Stephen Linnell
IT was once solely the domain of the holidaymaker.
But these days, the humble caravan park is increasingly becoming the destination of choice for families unable to cope with high rental prices and a shrinking market.
The BP Caravan Park in Werribee South has been inundated with requests for accommodation from people struggling to stay in a rental home, or unable to afford one.
“We’ve had five a day calling us wanting accommodation,” caretaker Jean Higgins told Star.
“I’m getting this every day. They’re asking me where should I go, where do you recommend? Well I can’t recommend anywhere.
“We’ve had five a day without a doubt.
“They either can’t get into the rental market or they have to get out of their houses because they can’t afford to stay there any longer.
“There’s a lot. The last couple of months have been really bad.
“The rental situation is quite bad, some of them have been waiting for a long time for something but they just can’t get in.”
The caravan park has about 60 sites, with about half reserved for permanent tenants.
“We just don’t have the availability,” Ms Higgins said.
The rental squeeze is having a significant impact on families throughout Wyndham and the country.
A Fujitsu Consulting/Wizard Home Loans report released last week in the Herald Sun found about 837,000 Australian households were experiencing some form of mortgage stress, up from 784,000 in May 2008.
In Victoria, of the 1.73 million households with a mortgage, 122,081 were currently in mild stress and a further 84,773 were in severe stress in June this year.
Fujitsu Consulting director Martin North said of those in severe stress, 83 per cent blamed interest rates for the problem, followed by petrol prices at 8 per cent.
“Every 0.25 per cent increase in interest rates means 150,000 additional households will move into stress, of which five per cent will ultimately default,” he said.
“However the majority will sell first and move into rental. This is putting extra pressure on rentals at a time when four per cent of investment borrowers are also selling up.”
Mortgage stress is defined as a household spending more than 30 per cent of their income repaying home loans.
