Tall Poppy Queenstown owner and real estate agent Keeley Anderson said she was receiving daily calls from people asking if they could stay in the vacant properties she was selling.
"People are seeing the listings on Trade Me and are so desperate they’re getting creative in figuring out how to try to house themselves.
"They see photos of a vacant home and try their luck by asking. I can understand why when people are living in tents or in emergency accommodation."
On Monday night, about 100 people gathered at Queenstown’s waterfront, most of whom were either homeless, or had no secure accommodation and were couch surfing, for example, to further highlight the ongoing issue in the town.
Ms Anderson said "mum and dad landlords" were selling properties due to the removal of interest deductibility and rising interest rates, as well as changes to tenancy laws which made it difficult to easily remove tenants and use their own properties as holiday homes.
"Another reason is that many owners are baby boomers with investment properties originally purchased as a retirement nest egg that they now want to free up.
"Houses are then coming out of the rental pool, with investors still not buying in a market that requires them to have a 40% deposit and no tax deductions on interest," she said.
For those still holding on to rental properties, they needed the security of knowing they could sell easily if their finances "stop adding up".
Subsequently, they were more reluctant to put tenants in on longer, fixed-term tenancies, so periodic tenancies, which rolled over from month-to-month, were becoming more common, which allowed sellers to list with vacant possession in the contract, she said.
Ms Anderson said Queenstown’s rental crisis was having a "ripple effect" on the entire area.
"The high cost of living in the region has also had a big impact on the local economy, with many businesses struggling to attract and retain staff due to the lack of affordable housing options."
Seeing the increasing number of businesses, desperate for workers, purchase properties to house their employees indicated "just how compounded the situation has become".
Recent housing market data showed the housing market slowdown across the country had less of an effect in the Queenstown-Lakes, with the average property value dropping far less than in areas like Auckland and Wellington - 18% of agents in the Queenstown-Lakes felt house prices were falling further in their region than three months ago, compared with 59% of agents in other areas nationally, Ms Anderson said.
