Property management has been flagged by TAFE NSW as one of the fastest growing occupations in the North West.
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There are 11 real estates in Gunnedah with property management departments, which is driven by demand for rentals.
“If you look at the gross figures for rental inquiries, they’re very high,” Ewing Real Estate sales agent Ben Robertson said.
“I guess within our particular agency we have two property managers plus an assistant to deal with inquiries and they’re flat-stick.
“We are filling the inquiries but it just depends on the property. I think if it’s your general run-of-the-mill three-bedroom house, there is a lot of demand for that sort of thing.
“At the moment we’re doing open houses for rental properties to streamline getting time management under wraps and with those open inspections instead of taking two or three or four different people in at separate times, we’re putting them all together. We didn’t so much do that before but now because of the demand, it makes it a lot more streamline.”
If you look at the gross figures for rental inquiries, they’re very high.
- Ben Robertson, Ewing Real Estate
While renting is popular in Gunnedah, Mr Robertson said there is also “a natural progression from rental enquiries into sales, with people wanting to buy and relocate into Gunnedah”.
Ray White Fleming & Ross principal Tim Walsh said the number of people with investment properties is on the rise and rentals were a “constant”.
“In Australia, people see real estate as a number one investment choice,” he said.
Mr Walsh said the “workforce is more transient” in Gunnedah because of the mining sector, which also impacts rental demand.
Property manager Bobbie Insch said another factor driving the rental market is housing affordability.
“I think more people are renting now because it’s more difficult to buy a house now. It’s taking people a lot longer to afford a house,” she said.
Ms Insch has been working at Fleming and Ross for four years and said “you would have a property manager for every 50-100 properties you manage”.
Ms Insch said a difficult part of the job was having to say no to potential tenants.
“That's my least favourite part – telling people I know would be good tenants, ‘I’m sorry, you’ve missed out on this house’,” she said.
In Australia, people see real estate as a number one investment choice
- Tim Walsh, Ray White Fleming & Ross
Fellow property manager Jess Richard is almost a year in the job and said as a property manager there are certain challenges.
“Trying to keep both tenant and landlord satisfied is probably the main focus,” she said.
“If you get that balance right between tenant and landlord, things run smoothly.”
Mrs Richard said the role is “quite involved” and she enjoys matching tenants to the right properties.
“[The best part is] getting people into homes that they are going to look after and seeing people have pride in their rental,” she said.
