But instead of excitement, he's feeling a mix of uncertainty and nail-biting nervousness as he anxiously searches for a place to live.

The 18-year-old high school graduate has accepted an offer to study biomedical engineering at Wollongong University.

Along with three friends, the Wagga resident has spent months applying for rental properties.

"We've flooded the market with applications [for properties] and we're getting rejected each time," Mr Ferguson said.

"We'll just get an email saying 'sorry', it can be a couple of days to over a week [after we've applied]."

The nation is currently experiencing a rental property deficit with most cities seeing a dramatic drop in vacancies this year.

According to SQM Research, Wollongong hit an all-time low of 0.8-0.9 per cent rental vacancies in December.

Not since it was 0.7 per cent in 2010 has it been so low, and by contrast, in the same time period in 2019-2020, the city was hovering around 2.6-2.1 per cent.

For Mr Ferguson and his would-be housemates, the situation is made harder because they have not been able to travel to Wollongong to see the properties they are applying for.

"With COVID, we haven't been able to go to Wollongong to have a look around which would help because then we could meet the [real estate] agents," he said.

He admits he did not expect it would be so hard to find a "basic house for up to $800 a week".

"On paper, we're not the most appetizing renters. We're four 18-year-olds looking for a house near the uni," Mr Ferguson said.

"We don't have rental history or landlords who will be references, we don't have much of a credit history and our employment has been temporary or casual while we were at school.

"We're just trying to get a foot in the door. We need to be given a chance."

The struggle to find rental properties is not unique to coastal areas either. In Wagga, real estate agents have reported only 0.3 per cent vacancy this month, which represents a 15-year low for the city.

Mr Ferguson was expecting to begin attending classes on-campus from February 1. But without a place to live, he's uncertain of whether he will be in Wollongong on that date.

"Our only other options are to live on campus or [study] online," he said.

"It's a difference of about $300 a week. It's all up in the air, it's pretty stressful."