Struggling tenant sums up Australia's rental crisis as he looks for a housemate to share a bed for $300 a week

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An international student has been forced to search for a housemate to share a bed at his house for $300 a week in a sign of Australia's worsening rental crisis. 

Belgian student William Vanneste, 22, is living in a two-bedroom home in Lane Cove, in Sydney's lower north shore, while he completes a three-month internship. 

Mr Vanneste lived in the furnished rental with two Frenchmen who decided to share a bed and halve their portion of the $1,150 weekly rent. 

The students' recent departure has left Mr Vanneste in the difficult position of finding someone to fill the vacancy and share a bed with a complete stranger. 

He advertised the unusual living arrangements in a post on Facebook which explained there were only two beds available. 

'So the probability is very high you end up sharing your bed, but they're very large and we respect privacy, so if you don't mind, you're welcome!' he wrote. 

'If needed, we can buy an inflatable mattress for one of us.' 

Student William Vanneste, 22, has been forced to ask his potential roommates to share a bed

Pictured is the furnished two-bedroom apartment in Sydney's lower north shore

In the post, Mr Vanneste said there was a gym and pool next door to the apartment and that it was located close to public transport. 

He told the ABC it was near-impossible to find short-term accommodation in Sydney and that the majority of his peers were in hostels. 

'The difficulty is to find some people who would like to stay in the same bed, or share a bed with somebody they don't know, so that's a little bit of a problem,' he said. 

He added potential tenants had not responded well to the idea they would be required to share a bed with a stranger.

It comes as rental prices in Australia surge to record highs with the median rent across the nation skyrocketing to $627 a week.

Rental prices ranged from $547 in Hobart to $770 in Sydney, according to the latest report from property data provider CoreLogic.

The regional median was $540, driven by rises in regional Queensland and Tasmania.

Rents are going up faster in areas between 30 and 40km from city centres, CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen reported. 

'Part of the reason for the re-acceleration in rents nationally could be due to renters being forced into more affordable, peripheral housing markets as they become priced out of more desirable and central metropolitan locations,' she said.

Mr Vanneste is on the hunt for a roommate who can pay up to $575 a week for the rental

It comes as rental prices across Australia surge to a record-high with the median rent across the nation skyrocketing to $627 a week (pictured, 

But supply and demand pressures remain high across the nation and migration levels implied there were at least 200,000 new households in Australia, while only 173,000 new dwellings were completed to September last year, Ms Owen said.

'Given there is little that can be done on the supply side for renters in the short term, reprieve in the rental market is most likely to come from a moderation in net overseas migration,' she said.

Median rents were more than $1000 in nine areas, with Cottesloe-Claremont suburbs in beachside Perth the only area outside Sydney to command four figures.

Rents in Pittwater, 25km from the CBD on Sydney's northern beaches, were the highest at $1335 per week, coming down half a percentage point since March. 

Rents were still up 8.4 per cent annually in Pittwater, in line with the 8.5 per cent national increase.

The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council launched its inaugural report on Friday, painting a dire portrait of Australia's housing system.

Significant housing shortfalls over three consecutive years and resumed migration contributed to all-time low vacancy rates in the rental market, leading to nearly 170,000 households waiting for public housing, the report revealed.

READ MORE: I'm a single mum-of-two, 40, on a six-figure salary but I'm sleeping on my parents' floor because I still can't find a home

Kate never imagined that at 40 she would be back living with her mum and dad and sharing a king-sized mattress on the floor (pictured) with her two young kids