Accommodation - finding a temporary or long-term home

Temporary accommodation

When you first arrive in Australia, it may take time for you to find your first home to rent or buy.

There is a range of temporary accommodation available including: hotels, serviced apartments and short term rental properties.

The last 10 years has seen huge growth in serviced apartments for one very good reason: families and longer-stay business customers demanded more space, cooking facilities and laundry facilities.

Serviced apartments range from hotel-style apartments operated by well-known hotel brands to standard serviced apartments operated by newer entrants. The key differences between these types of serviced apartments are: size of the apartment, extent of cooking and laundry facilities and frequency of servicing. The price can therefore vary considerably, particularly during peak holiday season, so relocating in December and January can be expensive as the rest of Australia enjoys summer school holidays.

If you prefer to be in a more relaxed residential environment, a furnished apartment or home may be the ideal solution. You’ll save a great deal more on your accommodation costs which will give you more time to search for the right home. These furnished properties are not house-swaps, but professionally managed short stay properties that are fully self contained and available for rentals of at least seven nights.

Temporary accommodation can be arranged well in advance and can help you settle in before your furniture and personal goods arrive.

Websites such as www.rentahome.com.au provide furnished homes and apartments online, with availability and property feature search tools. Visitors are able to find, book and pay for accommodation at up to half the price of staying in a hotel. You can get best price quotes for your length of stay.

The benefits of a furnished home are that you and your family can be located in suburb areas close to schools, enjoy a more relaxed residential style of accommodation. Temporary accommodation list is priced at a small premium to long term unfurnished rental properties but are still typically 20-50% cheaper than compared to hotels or serviced apartments.

These furnished properties are used by business people seeking a more private and relaxed residential space where they can entertain friends in environment similar to their own home. These properties are also great for families because of the privacy, space, full sized kitchens, laundry capable of dealing with a family load of washing, as well as the non-commercial atmosphere. Rather than being in the busy central business district, visitors are now enjoying accommodation in neighbouring inner suburbs as they can research the destination and property before they arrive.

Property websites now provide images, descriptions and contact details online. And with up to date information you’ll save time and money avoiding telephone calls and waiting for newspapers. Best of all property websites can be accessed at anytime from a computer connected to the internet in any part of the world.

There are a number of leading hotel and serviced apartment websites, such as www.wotif.com and www.hotelclub.com, that cover a large number of providers. However, these websites typically enable bookings up to 28 days prior to arrival.

Rental Property Market

The rental property market runs in cycles. Sometimes there can be fewer properties available for rental and you may have to try for several rental properties before securing your own rental property.

This means you might need to extend in your temporary accommodation so double check that your accommodation provider has flexibility. One tip is to book for 3-4 weeks, then extend your stay once you have arrived.

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