Emily Perkins was issued a no grounds termination on her Raymond Terrace rental home three weeks ago. She said she's since applied for more than 100 properties, received more than 30 knockbacks and has until May 21 to find a place before her family is homeless.
"I've been saying to the kids: 'we may be going camping, and not the holiday kind of camping'," Ms Perkins said.
It's a situation facing many in the Hunter, with the vacancy rate across the region sitting at just 1.2 per cent, according to Real Estate Institute of NSW data.
The Heraldreported in September that real estates had "never seen it so competitive" in the rental market, and that trend appears to have continued, if not increased.
"It was crazy then, it's worse now," Castle Property partner Adriano Rossi said.
Related: Prospective tenants feel strain of competitive Hunter rental market
Ms Perkins was issued a 90 day notice due to her landlord needing the home for their parents. She heard the market was tough, so began applying for places straight away. But the mother-of-three had no idea she'd have this much trouble, with a solid rental history and good references behind her.
"I've rented through through the same real estate for four years," she said.
"I've asked for feedback from the real estates I've applied to and they say I have a perfect record, no marks on my tenancy file, but they just seem to want to go for someone else. I could understand the knockbacks if I was a bad tenant. I just don't see why it's happening."
Ms Perkins said she tried places all the way from Tea Gardens to Lake Macquarie, out to Singleton as well as Newcastle, Maitland and Raymond Terrace.
"I'll move to the Central Coast if it means putting a roof over my kids' heads," she said. "It's getting beyond a joke."
She said she's looking for a four-bedroom home as her youngest child needs his own room due to having chronic lung disease, while her seven and 10-year-old are currently in bunk beds and struggle in the shared space.
Desperate to secure a home for them, Ms Perkins said she offered $50 extra per week for a home and was still knocked back.
"I've heard of people offering to pay 6-12 months advance rent," she said. "I can't compete with that. I don't have an extra $10,000 to spare."
Ms Perkins said the uncertainty left her scared for her family.
"I feel like I can't be the parent my children deserve," she said. "They deserve to be able to come home, do their homework and eat dinner at the kitchen table. It's distressing to think about what the future looks like."
While the rental pinch is being felt beyond the region, the situation in the Hunter is bucking the trend in Sydney.
The median weekly rent in Newcastle-Lake Macquarie was $450 at the end of last year - a rise of 7.14 per cent on the previous 12 months, according to the Tenants Union of NSW. In the rest of the Hunter, the median sat at $395 - up 6.76 per cent from the previous year.
But in Greater Sydney, the median price in the same time period went down two per cent to $490.
Mr Rossi said he believed people's flexibility to work from home had led Sydneysiders to look to the Hunter as a more affordable, less busy place to live. He also said strong sale prices could be keeping some out of the buyers market, creating more rent competition.
In his 15 years in real estate, Mr Rossi said he'd never seen the market this busy. For one recent property, he said 60 applications were made in the first four days.
"We're getting lines down the street on some properties," he said. "Real estates are now more like security guards at open homes with all the COVID protocols we have to do. There's just not enough properties to meet demand."
