New students and those returning for consecutive years are behind the spike in demand with many students weighing the option of renting a house with friends over the costs of living in college accommodation.

LJ Hooker have seen so much demand since the beginning of 2010 their availible rental properties have been more than halved since January 4.

“From the first business day after the break there has been a steady stream of enquiries, there’s a lot of demand,” LJ Hooker real estate agent Rod Eichorn told The Express.

Rod recently joined the team at LJ Hooker after merging his agency, Property Armidale with the team at LJ Hooker.

The merger between the two agencies has resulted in LJ Hooker boasting one of the largest rental property portfolios in town, and Rod was adamant they value university students as tenants.

“University students these days are a lot better tenants than students from say 20 years ago” he said.

“We have a lot of students in our rental properties and they always look after the places.”

LJ Hooker has seen so much demand for rental property in the past two weeks they have been going through 30-plus sheets of rental listings per day.

“We’ve had a fair few students comment on costs rising at the university as to why they have decided to rent, so they tend to band together to rent a place and keep their costs down,” Mr Eichorn said.

“We have also been getting a lot of mums and dads coming through with their kids who are starting at UNE and looking to rent.”

The high demand has resulted in a busy start to the year for many local agencies, with agents organising open house inspections to limit the time they spend going back and forth showing prospective tenants houses and units.

“Our property managers have definitely had to hit the ground running this year,” Rod said.

Rod encourages anyone looking to rent to come and chat with the team about their rental needs.

“We are approachable, laid back and easy to deal with, people should feel free to come in and talk to us anytime,” he said.