What you’ll pay in rent in 2024: every suburb revealed

Tenants will see their rent soar by more than $100pw over the next six months in some areas, new forecasts show. See how rents in your suburb will change by 2024

Tenants are staring down another mammoth increase in rents by next year, with rental prices expected to soar by more than $100 a week in multiple areas.

Modelling of what rents will cost in each suburb by 2024 revealed the market is on a crash course for never-before-seen levels of rental affordability, which could push more city residents out of a home.

These rent increases would come on top of record rises over the past year as surging migration and declining building activity sparked one of the worst rental crises in Sydney’s history.

House rents across the Greater Sydney area as a whole were forecast to rise by $45 a week, while unit rents were expected to bounce up by $35 per week, according to the modelling by SuburbTrends.

The biggest rent increases nationally were forecast in northern beaches suburb Dee Why, where current median house rent is expected to skyrocket by a whopping $317 a week by next year.

Prospective renters Alara Cassells and Amelia Corrigan at a packed rental inspection in Ashfield. Picture: Adam Yip

Dee Why also had the highest forecast rent increases for units at $186 per week, based on the current supply of housing, local economic indicators and the pace of recent rent increases, among other factors.

House rent rises of more than $200 per week were forecast in Hurstville, Eastlakes, Malabar and La Perouse in Sydney’s south.

There were an additional 26 regions where house or unit rents would increase by more than $100 a week, according the modelling.

SuburbTrends analyst Kent Lardner said the coming rent rises were “scary” and would be particularly devastating for lower income communities in the southwest.

“Rents will go up sharply in the eastern suburbs, but those renters have the option to move a few suburbs out. But where do you go if you’re already on the bottom rung? It’s those renters that are being squeezed the most,” he said.

It comes as housing experts warned demand for rental housing has continued to eclipse supply in much of the country, especially in the Sydney suburbs within 10km of the CBD.

Rental supply has also diminished in many areas near the coast as landlords, facing stiff mortgage repayments increases, sell their properties or turn them into short-term stays on sites such as Airbnb.

Sydney rents have climbed 20.6 per cent over the past year, and while the number of rental vacancies is similar to last year, it’s half the level recorded at this time in 2021, according to SQM Research.

Such rent rises may have been too much for many households to bear. Homelessness NSW reported a 34 per cent increase in people sleeping rough over the past year, pointing to rising rents as the cause.

“People are bedding down on streets, in tents and park benches because they don’t have a safe place to call home,” said Homelessness NSW CEO Trina Jones.

“This should not be happening in one of the wealthiest places on Earth. The rising cost of living and a dire shortage of affordable rental homes is fuelling a homelessness crisis across NSW.”

PropTrack Director of Economic Research Cameron Kusher said rental conditions remain “extremely tight” following 2022’s record year for migration intake.

“The cost of renting continues to rise,” he said. “We continue to see low levels of new investment in housing, keeping the supply of available rental stock relatively low.”

The rent on this Dee Why home increased by $360 per week over the past year.

Many renters are already feeling the pinch from landlords needing to sell because of unaffordable repayments.

Friends Amelia Corrigan and Alara Cassel are currently looking for a new rental after Ms Corrigan was told to vacate her current home because the landlord was selling.

Ms Corrigan said finding a new home has been difficult.

“There is not a lot at the right price … the quality varies,” she told the Saturday Telegraph outside a packed rental inspection in Ashfield.

The friends said they were tempted to give up inspecting the home on Frederick St because so many other people wanted it.

Rent for a unit in this Auburn building has gone by $250 per week over the past year, an increase 83 per cent.

Rent for this Malabar home is up $350 per week from last year.

“It does make you want to turn around,” Ms Cassel said. “I feel like many of the properties that are available are only up for rent because the tenants moved out once the landlord increased the rent, so they’re expensive.”