Nicholai Dacombe had been renting in Maroochydore with his wife,their two children,and his parents for more than a year before COVID-19 hit their household income hard.
The family's lease was extended to September 30 under the eviction moratorium before they were issued a notice to leave. Looking for new rentals,they were told one unit had received 85 applications.
Mr Dacombe said the family had offered $20 more rent each week - paid one month ahead - after seeing more than 20 groups attend some inspections.
Loading
"We were lucky even to get somewhere else,"he said."It's not just so many people applying,there's just not enough properties."
September quarter data from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland - which has heard similar anecdotes - showed record"extremely tight"vacancy rates across 90 per cent of the state.
This translated into a steep drop to 0.5 per cent on the Sunshine Coast,where removalists and real estates havespoken of a surge in interest from people bound from southern states.