‘Ridiculous’: Aussie fume over rental prices as crisis worsens

The battle is well and truly on for Aussies to keep their place in the rental market as vacancies tumble and rates rise.

Renters across Australia are under major pressure as landlords tell them to cough up more cash or move along.

Melbourne city and suburban renters are now being forced by their landlords to pay more or find a new place to live, with some reporting rental increases of more than 30 per cent.

Some renters, who got lucky during the pandemic when landlords decreased rent in the CBD, Docklands AND Southbank, have been left scrambling for cash as their leases expire – the inner-city rental market rebounding to pre-pandemic prices.

Melbourne renters are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of rent in both the city and the suburbs.

Charlie Emery, 24, and three of his mates were kicked out of their inner-city rental after their landlord told them they each needed to pay an extra $50 a week.

“We were already paying what I would consider a relatively expensive amount in rent (about $250 each weekly) for a place in Hawthorn,” he explained.

“Once our lease ran out our landlord informed us that they wanted to increase the rent by $200 a week total. Between four of us, this equated to an additional $50 a week.”

Charlie Emery, 24, and his mates were told by their landlord that they needed to cough up $50 more each a week or find a new place to live amid Melbourne's renting crisis.

All agreeing that this was too much, Mr Emery admitted that they didn’t even bother negotiating.

“We were already finding it difficult to save with the amount we were paying in rent as it was,” he said.

The four boys, all in their early 20s and on graduate job wages, have decided to save some money and move back in with their parents until the chaotic rental market calms down.

Jaymee Quigley and her partner Liam, who are raising their one-year-old daughter Willow in a rental in Melbourne’s southeast, about 50km from the CBD, have also had their rent upped.

Jaymee Quigley and partner Liam are struggling with increasing rent as they attempt to save to buy their first home while raising their one-year-old, Willow.

The young parents have had to fork out another $25 a week since late last year, but when they re-sign their lease in November for the Clyde North property it’ll jump up to $40.

“It takes it up to $530 a week, which is stupid. Ridiculous,” Ms Quigley said.

The 27-year-old said issues with the property were driving up their energy bills as well.

“There’s never been TLC (tender, love and care) to this house, like our backyard’s a swamp,” she said.

“There’s no air circulation, there’s no fly screens, the gas bills are like $800 for three months because all the hot air goes out the window.”

“It’s just ridiculous.

“There’s not much we can do.”

Sydney renters are paying the price too.

Ms Quigley said while others were worse off, the extra bit of coin stung when it came to saving for a home.

“We’re quite lucky that we can afford it, but it’s quite big, going up an extra $40 a week – it’s a big jump. That takes out rent up to like $2.2k a month,” she said.

“We’re trying to save, we’re trying to get our pre-approval this week. And our lease is up in November, so it’s just very stressful.”

Renters in Sydney are also facing dramatic rent rises, with one suburb experiencing a rental increase of more than $100 a week, according to new housing data from advocacy group Everybody’s Home.

Sydney suburbs worst hit by rental price hikes

Rents in the lower north shore jumped by a staggering $107 a week, or almost 15 per cent, taking the average asking price in the suburb to more than $859 a week.

Sydney CBD renters were also hit with a major increase of $98 a week, bringing the average weekly total to more than $860.

The most expensive average rate was in the northern beaches, with renters forced to hand over an extra $66 a week, increasing the weekly total to a whopping $934.

Queensland renters have been slapped as well, with vacancy rates in nearly all regions collapsing to well below 1 per cent as rental and property prices increase.

Brisbane’s rental market is also under strain, with less than 1 per cent of rentals available. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

The percentage of homes available on the rental market in Greater Brisbane tumbled from 1.3 per cent in July 2021 to 0.7 per cent in July 2022, according to property data group SQM Research.

Landlords are taking advantage of the shift, with the weekly rental price of both houses and units rising from $427 to $553 between January and September last year.

It had jumped by only $41 on average over the 10-year period to January 2021.