Healthy Harold van listed for $300-a-week reveals the 'bleak' reality of Australia's rental crisis
- The iconic van is located in south Brisbane
- Aussies joked about renting nostalgic piece of Aussie culture
- READ MORE: Chilling ways the housing crisis has changed Australia forever
Aussies are divided over a rental listing for a decommissioned Healthy Harold van available to rent for $300-a-week.
Those who grew up between the 80s and mid-2000s likely have fond memories of the iconic giraffe puppet visiting their school in his Life Education van.
For more than four decades, Healthy Harold travelled around the country teaching children about drugs, alcohol and healthy eating.
And now one of the vans is available for rent at a site in Coopers Plains, Brisbane.
Rental advocate Jordan van den Lamb, also known as Purplepingers, shared screenshots of the listing to the 's***rentals' Reddit thread on Friday.
Mr van den Lamb captioned the post with one word: 'Bleak'.
The listing described the van as a 'portable home on wheels' with air conditioning, electricity, private toilet and bathroom and a small kitchen with a fridge.
Tenants could pay $20 less per week if they choose to rent it unfurnished.
A decommissioned Healthy Harold van has been listed for rent, with prospective tenants able to live in the 'home on wheels' for $300-a-week
The listing explained the rental as including air conditioning, electricity, a private toilet and bathroom, along with its own small kitchen with a fridge
The landlord boasted about the five-minute walk to a bus stop near Brittain Park and the 20-minute walk to Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital.
Aussies were stunned by the listing, with many joking about the prospect of renting a nostalgic piece of Australian culture.
'I'd be down if it comes with a Harold, and the starry roof is still in place,' one said.
'I don't care about the Harold, but my God I would kill for that starry ceiling in my house. That thing was the s***,' a second wrote.
'But like a new Harold though. You probably don't want the one I had in Year 3, where his head fell off mid-session. And the teacher had to escort us out,' a third shared.
But others said it was a stark reminder of Australia's competitive rental market.
'I've seen rentals with less go for more. What a time to be alive honestly,' one said.
'My friend's younger sister pays more to live in a shipping container in Newcastle next to a cemetery. Toilet in the open and no air conditioning,' a second wrote.
The giraffe puppet Healthy Harold visited schools in his iconic Life Education van to talk to children about drugs, alcohol and healthy eating for four decades
Social media users joked at the possibility of renting a piece of Australian childhood nostalgia
'I mean, it should be hated for $300 a week. But in the current economy, I can understand why it's not hated,' a third wrote.
'Something has to change. This sort of thing being normalised is way, way off,' a fourth commented.
The listing comes as Australia's national residential vacancy rate remained steady at 1.2 per cent in October, according to SQM Research.
In Brisbane, the vacancy rate remained tight at 1.0 per cent, with 3,391 vacancies.
Recent data indicates rental price growth may gradually ease, though conditions remain tight.
The state's combined rents fell 0.2 per cent for the month and 6.7 per cent over the year, driven by strong demand for family homes and ongoing population growth.
