Young people are turning to house-sitting for an exciting and cheap lifestyle

Jade and Adriana Wales last paid their rent almost eight years ago and have no plans to start anytime soon.

The married singer-songwriters have spent time living in places like a double-storey house with a swimming pool along the New South Wales coast, without it costing them a cent.

“It’s a barter system,” Mr. Wales, 29, said.

“We get free accommodation and they get pet sitting services while they’re on vacation.

“No money exchanged.”

After Ms. Wales finished college, the young couple found their full-time jobs “a little too toxic.”

“So, we decided, why not work for ourselves and keep the house, and we can go anywhere,” Ms Wales, 31, said.

They found places to house hold online and were booked for most of the year.

“We went all the way to the Whitsundays to rural Victoria,” Mr Wales said.

They stay in a camper they built when they don’t have a place provided.

“It’s kind of a luxury home on wheels,” Mr. Wales said.

The young couple said all they needed for in-home care was internet access and some space to set up their music.

“We’re singer-songwriters, so we run a YouTube channel and release music online through our indie folk band,” Mr Wales said.

“Then the rest of our week we are content creators and do videography for other brands online.”

For them, it’s the perfect “lifestyle.”

“Hidden homeless”

Dorina Pojani, associate professor of urban planning at the University of Queensland, said it was “wonderful” that people were choosing to keep their homes as a way of life to accommodate their travel desires.

But she worries that the increase in house sitters is linked to an increase in the number of homeless people.

“We don’t want to see people forced to keep their homes because they really can’t afford any other options,” Dr. Pojani said.

Without any data on how many people are keeping their homes and their motivations, Dr Pojani said it had become a form of “hidden homelessness”.

“If they say, ‘I’m doing this because I literally can’t afford anything else,’ that’s where we need policy interventions,” she said.

Michael Fotheringham, chief executive of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, said house sitting was not a “new phenomenon”, but the length of time people spent on it had changed .

Dr Fotheringham said young people were using house sitting as a transitional and short-term residence, but as home ownership rates fell they were being used for longer-term tenures.

“If people feel like they have to do it because they can’t afford to buy or rent, or there’s no stock available to buy or rent, then it’s a real concern,” he said.

Housing challenges in 2025

Dr Fotheringham said there was reason to be “optimistic” as the housing system began to “move in the right direction”, but repairing the system would still take years.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, so it’s not enough to just build more,” Dr Fotheringham said.

“These are problems that have developed over several decades.

“We are seeing reforms to our rental regulations that mean the tenant experience is better protected or enhanced.”

However, he said there remained “very real” issues around labor and supply chain shortages, creating “real pricing challenges”.

“We have a number of other issues that we need to address as a housing system that will certainly arise through to the end of 2025 and over the next couple of years,” Dr Fotheringham said.

No draft regulations

Wales has no plans to settle down and ‘give up’ the house-sitting lifestyle any time soon.

They said it had “many benefits”.

“There are so many things to love about house-sitting. I mean, one of the biggest things for us is not having bills,” Mr. Wales said.

“It’s just a great way to save money, a great way to meet new people.