Is this a sign of how crazy Australia’s housing market has become? Spiralling rental prices have led one Melbourne landlord to stack six sleeping pods together in a room in a boarding house in the inner-city suburb of Abbotsford, 2km north of Melbourne’s CBD.
Frank Chan is charging $250 per week or $900 a month for the single-capsule bedrooms on the ground floor of a house where a traditional bedroom costs $400 a week or $1,500 a month to rent.
Frank bought the house, which contains five bedrooms, four bathrooms and one car park, in 2012.
“Each capsule pod fits a single bed (can sleep one person only), equipped with own mirror, ventilating fan, USB ports, digital control panels, adjustable colour reading lights, safe locker, clothes hanger & curtain door for privacy,” states the advertisement on Facebook.
“They look like space shuttles.”
Frank’s advertisement states the boarding house and capsules are licensed and the house is compliant with building code and fire safety regulations.
“I do not charge bond, no electricity charge, provide full furniture, full-time housekeeper, tenants have full flexibility when they want to leave, and my price is cheaper than 95 per cent of comparable listings in booking.com, hotels.com and Airbnb the like,” he told The Guardian.
“I know there are many people who don’t understand much about the rental market and shout that my price is too high… but they really haven’t looked at how short-term accommodation functions.”
One thing’s for sure – we hope that this isn’t the way of the future.
