Dire living room rental paints bleak picture for millions of Aussies
It's cheaper than the average rent, but would you want to live in this 'room'?
Australians priced out of renting a property are being forced to reconsider house sharing, but this doesn’t always mean getting a room to yourself - some will take “dire” options like a single mattress on the floor of a tiled living room cordoned off by room dividers.
The ‘room’ advertised for $185 on a Sydney Facebook group is an example of what some tenants face as rents remain at record highs across the country. Domain’s December Rent Report offered a “glimmer of hope” as extreme rent hikes “lose traction” moving into 2024, however rising vacancy rates still remain tight. The median weekly rental price in Sydney is $680 for a unit and $730 for a house.
Tenant’s advocate Jordan van den Berg told Yahoo Finance he’d noticed university students looking for accommodation were particularly vulnerable to accepting lodgings like this.
“This is a really tough time for them to find a place and the December results say rent prices have stalled instead of continuing to grow, which is good, but this is a transition period and so many more people will be looking for places to stay now, particularly near universities.
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“It’s really bad in Sydney, particularly in places like Mascot and Chatswood. I’ve seen people listing just balconies, literally a balcony closed off. It’s not appropriate.”
Rent rises slowing, but will never drop
Leading property expert Dr Nicola Powell told Yahoo Finance more properties were becoming available for tenants and huge rent jumps were likely behind us, but that prices would not drop from here.
“The slowdown is basically because rents couldn’t continue to rise at the extreme rates they were increasing because people just can’t afford them,” she said.
“But we can’t forget that rents are pretty much at record highs across most of our capital cities.”
She said inner city suburbs would likely remain under pressure, in part due to university students looking for lodgings and “elevated levels of overseas migration”.
Tenants can expect to find better choices out there amid a seasonal lift in January, with vacancy rates pushing up in most capitals, according to Domain.
Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne are now at a 12-month high, Darwin is at a 3.5-year high while Canberra is at the highest on record.
“Canberra is actually now technically a balanced rental market. It's got a vacancy rate of 2 per cent, which is the highest out of all the capitals.”
For the rest of the nation to reach a balanced market, there needs to be between 30,000 to 60,000 more rental properties available, Powell said.
“The mismatch between low supply and rising demand remains an ongoing challenge for tenants. Australia’s housing supply shortfall has collided with rapid population growth (including the largest net gain in overseas migrants on record, with the biggest group being temporary visa holders), a strained construction sector and rising property prices (locking people into renting for longer),” Domain reported.
What is the median rent in Australia?
Here’s a snapshot of the current rental market and median weekly rents:
Sydney: Houses $750, Units $680
Melbourne: Houses $550, Units $520
Brisbane: Houses $620, Units $560
Adelaide: Houses $560, Units $460
Perth: Houses $620, Units $550
Hobart: Houses $550, Units $460
Darwin: Houses $660, Units $560
ACT: Houses $680, Units $560
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