Stunning $65 detail in Sydney rental highlights renters' woes
A sharp rise in price for a Sydney studio that's been compared to a jail cell highlights the limited choice for renters.
Two Sydney rentals in the sought-after suburb of Paddington have been likened to jail cells, with the price of one seeing a sharp $65 jump in the last nine months.
One sad-looking confined furnished studio was advertised by the landlord as $350 per week and other as $345 per week — which Yahoo News Australia previously reported being $280 only last year in April, meaning it has experienced a 23 per cent rise in less than a year.
Photos from their online advertisements on social media shows the first "generous-size bedroom" has a bed right next to a toilet, cracked and dirty floor tiles, and two small windows, with one being quite high up.
It comes furnished with a kitchenette, TV, clothes dryer, bed, small microwave and wifi.
The second has yellowed brick walls, the same utilities just inches from the bed, as well as a small TV propped on the wall.
Social media users react to Paddington studios
Many couldn't believe their eyes when seeing the ad, with one person saying it was "disgusting" and another commenting they'd "rather live in a coffin".
"Why pay $350 when I can go to jail for free" another commented on Facebook.
"Is that a bed in a laundry," a third person speculated.
"$345 a week, you're kidding what a dive," another said.
Renters forced to take low-quality homes amid housing crisis
Leo Patterson Ross, the CEO of The Tenants’ Union of NSW, told Yahoo News Australia earlier this month many struggling Sydney renters have no choice but to take sub-standard conditions "just to keep a roof over their heads".
A survey last year by Anglicare Australia of 45,992 rental listings also showed that the market is less affordable than ever. Only 712 of the rental properties surveyed, or two per cent, could be afforded by Australians earning minimum wage.
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"Australia's housing crisis has reached fever pitch," Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers previously said.
Images online show the extent of the current rental crisis with hundreds of people queuing for basic accommodation — and experts say there's no end in sight.
"We know rates have been increasing since the start of the pandemic and that rate of increase has accelerated as population growth has started up again," Ray White Real Estate chief economist Nerida Conisbee told Sunrise last week. "We also have a housing supply shortage and that is not being helped by rising construction costs — housing approvals are down 15 per cent."
Last year, Sydney rental prices jumped 18.6 per cent for units.
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