This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
SYDNEY renters are under pressure again. A NSW Government report shows rents have started to rise in the March quarter.
The NSW Rent and Sales Report March quarter report shows within the Inner Ring, the median rent increased by $10 to $480.
Although the median rent for all dwellings remained unchanged at $400 in the Sydney Statistical Division and remain flat in both the Middle Ring ($400) and the Outer Ring ($350).
But compared to the previous year, the median rent increased in the Sydney SD by $10, in the Inner Ring by $15, in the Outer Ring by $20, and remained unchanged in the Middle Ring.
Urban Task CEO Aaron Gadiel said there are signs that Sydney rents are starting to climb in the face of a worsening housing shortage.
There was a significant jump in rents for two bedroom apartments in the inner suburbs of Sydney and three bedroom houses in outer suburban Sydney, where Gadiel said housing supply is under greatest pressure.
“Those wanting the benefits of compact, pedestrian friendly living in the inner suburbs have been denied choice by limitations on apartment development and high levies.
“Likewise, levies and land release policies have prevented land from being developed in outer suburban Sydney. As a result, more families are chasing a limited supply of rental houses,” he added.
Gadiel said rents in outer suburban Sydney increased by more than three times the rate of inflation (0.9%).
Rents for three bedroom houses shot up by 2.9% in Sydney’s outer suburbs – jumping from a median of $340 to $350 in just three months.
“This is only the latest jump in a rolling series of rent increases for Sydney families in the outer suburbs.
“Five years ago the median rental for a three bedroom house in the outer suburbs was just $240 a week, since then it has surged by 46%, while inflation over the same period has been just 18%,” he continued.
Some of largest rent increases for three bedroom houses were in:
• Camden, which saw a $20 a rise to a median weekly rent of $380;
• Pittwater, with a $30 a week jump to a rent of $650 a week;
• Sutherland, which had a $20 increase to a rent of $520;
• Hawkesbury, which increased by $10 to $340 a week;
• Gosford, which saw $10 increase to a rent of $340; and
• Fairfield, where the there was a $10 increase to a weekly rent of $360.
Meanwhile median rents for two bedroom apartments in the inner suburbs of Sydney have soared by 4% in just three months – more than four times the rate of inflation. The biggest rises were in Woollahra with a $30 increase in the median rent to $570, followed by the City of Sydney with an increase of $20 a week to $590. Botany and Ashfield councils followed, each with weekly rental increases of $10 a week to $370 and $380 respectively.
Australian Property Journal
