Young interstate workers say they are considering turning down jobs and regret moving to Canberra because of the city's "very competitive" rental market - the most expensive in the country.
On Saturday mornings, lines of desperate renters snake down suburban streets to inspect mediocre houses.
They submit dozens of applications, bidding way above listed prices to try and ensure a roof over their heads.
Posts on sharehouse Facebook pages are flooded with likes, comments and messages - "Interested!".
Some, bolstered by the high demand, insist new housemates meet stringent requirements: mid-20s only, vegetarian, green thumbs needed.
Melbourne policy graduate Lauren said she has been looking for a room or rental since July 5 - the day before she accepted an APS graduate role.
If she doesn't find a place by late August, she said she would turn the job down.
"If I haven't found anything by the end of August to be moving in during September, then I think I would just have to turn down the role, which I really don't want to do," she said.
Lauren said she initially thought she could find a place on her own, but after submitting 10 applications realised it would be impossible on a graduate salary.
Despite sending 30 messages to people looking for housemates and even offering to pay rent a month early, she still cannot find a room.
"[I'm] someone who's got full-time work coming up, I've lived with a housemate for the last four years," she said.
"I've never paid bills late, I've never paid rent late, I'm a very tidy person. I would think that I'm pretty much like prime housemate material.
"But a lot of the people I've spoken to, they've got like 20, 30 other people messaging them for inspections and wanting to move in."
She said before trying to find a rental, she would've considered a role in the APS on par with one in the Victorian public service.
"Whereas now knowing how bad the rental market is [in Canberra], it's now like, okay, I could get a job that would pay the same, but I'd be needing to pay twice as much rent as I would be in Melbourne," she said.
"It's definitely impacting how preferable I thought it was."
International recruitment company Page Group partner and Canberra local Jim Roy said he was "certainly not surprised" people would turn down roles in the capital because of the rental market.
"If you are an employee, then you're probably in a position where you may get two or three job offers," he said, adding people seeking employment in Canberra are often well-educated and have in-demand skills.
He said the APS offered high-paying temporary contracts to employees with extensive work experience, who had security if they decided to leave.
"They've got options as well," he said.
University of Adelaide PhD student Mark R agreed to a six-month stint at a major research facility before realising how expensive Canberra rentals were.
"[If I had known] I would have chosen to negotiate staying in Adelaide," he said.
Mr Rullo said his landlord increased his inner-city townhouse by $50, citing a land tax increase, and he has been looking to move since.
"The amount that I pay in rent here, for the same price, I could get something really, really nice in Adelaide," he said.
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For others, like 26-year-old IT worker Alka, the situation is more dire.
Alka works at a prominent not-for-profit, a job she took while living in Melbourne early this year.
Alka is on a bridging visa and applied for Canberra jobs because it would help her apply for permanent residency or a skilled regional visa.
Because she had other job offers rescinded after Covid hit, Alka said she only started looking for a room once she signed her contract in March.
She said having seen how expensive Canberra rent was, she "very quickly" found a room in Page on Gumtree, and signed a three-month lease.
"They only put up the pictures of the room, they did not really put up a picture of the whole house. So the room looked fine," she said.
"After moving, that's when I realised that particular house is really, really old. There's a lot of possums living in the attic ...There's no heating and the house is always cold. [It's] a very, very old house, it looks like it's an abandoned house.
"On top of that, I live with a family as well, and they have a baby who has separation anxiety, and the baby is constantly crying."
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But she said the biggest issue is the lack of cell service and Wi-Fi.
Alka is concerned Canberra could go into lockdown, and she would be left unable to work from home.
"We had a conversation in the office that things could get bad, and if things get bad, we'll probably have to work from home," Alka said.
"If because of a lockdown [I'm] asked to work from home, I honestly don't know what I'd do.
"I'm really worried that I might [not] get a place."
She said she has been looking for somewhere else to live since May.
Alka said if she had more options and living in Canberra wasn't a visa requirement, she would go back to Melbourne.
She recently found a "perfect" rental.
"I really liked the house, the people are fantastic, and from the city it's just one bus ride," she said.
"I found something that seemed perfect. And then it went to someone else."
