House-sitters say the lifestyle offers a way for many to save and see new places. Urban planning experts worry the trend may be a sign of people locked out of the housing and rental markets. Experts say there are promising signs of those markets improving over the next few years.
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00:00Jade and Adriana Wales last paid rent almost eight years ago and they've been calling places
00:08like this home.
00:09It's a barter system. We get free accommodation and they get pet sitters while they go on
00:17holiday. So yeah, no money exchanged.
00:21The singer-songwriters have taken care of around 50 places, from the Whitsundays to
00:28rural Victoria. And they're booked out all year.
00:32We decided why don't we work for ourselves and house sit and we can just go anywhere
00:37we want.
00:38The young couple say it's a lifestyle choice.
00:41We love the adventure. Every house sit feels like a fresh new start. Feels like a new year
00:48every time you move in.
00:49That's a wonderful thing for people to do to sort of fulfil their travel desires that
00:54way.
00:55My concern is when house sitting becomes a form of hidden homelessness.
01:01There is no data around just how many people are house sitting because it isn't included
01:06in the census. But there are concerns housing pressures may be one of the factors driving
01:13an increase.
01:14What we're seeing with homeownership rates declining is that people are spending more
01:18time in what we used to think of as transitional tenures and therefore spending more time doing
01:23things like house sitting.
01:25And he warns those housing challenges will continue into the new year.
01:29We have a number of other issues we need to address as a housing system that will certainly
01:34play out through 2025 and the next couple of years.
01:39For the Wales, they have no plans to put down roots.
01:42There's so many things to love about house sitting. I mean a huge one for us is not having
01:48any bills.
01:49A money saver and a new adventure.