Arvinder (L) and Simran (R)

For Simran and Arvinder, settling into their new home feels like breathing again after months of struggling to stay afloat.

The newly-weds should have been looking forward to starting a new chapter of their lives. Instead, they were met with months of turmoil and uncertainty stemming from a crushingly competitive rental market.

“After the wedding – I thought we would be relaxing and unwinding. We were looking forward to focusing on our relationship and building our life together,” Simran said. “I had rented in Perth for over 10 years with no issue, so I was super confident we could find a home in Adelaide.”

Both IT Consultants with a perfect rental history, excellent credit and references – finding a new home during their relocation to Adelaide seemed like it would be ‘no trouble at all’. However, reality came as a complete shock. During the six months that followed, the couple applied to over 100 properties with no success.

“We never thought the rental market would be this crazy. There would be 20 to 30 people coming to each inspection and we weren’t getting any calls,” Arvinder said.

Looking for a home had gone from an exciting new start to a rigid home-hunting regime run from hotels, short-term rentals, and Airbnbs.

“We would originally visit properties together. But we were attending so many that we had to split up to make the times,” Arvinder said. “We visited so many that by the end of the day I didn’t remember any of them.”

Eventually, after receiving only one offer for an old, mould-covered home in the northern suburbs, they felt like they had hit rock-bottom.

“We only lasted three days in that place. I physically couldn’t breathe because of the mould. I cried every night and thought to myself – is this really what our life has come to?” Simran said. When Simran received a call from Junction with an offer of a new home within our affordable housing portfolio, she “broke down out of pure relief and joy.”

The apartment is one of 10 Junction has purchased within the vibrant new precinct at West to provide long term, stable rental housing for tenants able to pay up to 74.9 per cent of market rent.

“We were living out of our suitcases.” Arvinder said. “Now, we’ve been able to buy furniture and make it feel more like a home. It’s clean, it’s comfortable and it’s in a great location. We feel so lucky to be here.”

“It feels like we’ve finally reached the shore after swimming for so long,” Simran said.