Late last year, outside a house in Melbourne’s inner-west, an auctioneer tried to drum up some interest.
The auctioneer’s angle might have left aspirational homeowners taken aback, but it comes as little surprise to property and investment managers, who say there has been an explosion of interest in rooming houses from investors. According to Tenants Victoria, the two main cohorts of rooming house residents are international students, and people with complex needs experiencing entrenched vulnerability – such as mental health issues or substance use, experience of family violence, recent incarceration – or poverty.
Michael Williams, managing director of the Hopkins Group, said interest in the space had grown ever since the company entered the industry about eight years go.