Roselands named Sydney’s most tenant-friendly suburb

Unit rents have dropped in this suburb to a weekly median of $335 – and it’s only a short commute to the city.

A suburb that costs less than $350 a week to rent and is a half an hour’s drive from the CBD has been dubbed Sydney’s most tenant friendly market.

Apartment renters looking for a bargain without the lengthy commute need look no further than Roselands, about 13kms from the CBD.

The unit market was the only Sydney option to appear in a list of the 20 best options for renters nationwide.

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Rental review site Rent Rabbit said the national list of tenant-friendly suburbs was “for tenants who want to live in good locations but have only average incomes.”

Demand for rentals has gone up in many Sydney suburbs. Photo: Steve Pohlner.

At number 14 on the Tenant Opportunity Report, the south western suburb of Roselands was shown to have a median weekly rent of $335 across its available apartments, which was down 9.5 per cent from last year’s median of $370.

It also had a socio-economic score of five, meaning it was in the fifth decile (41-50%) or middle range in terms of its socio-economic position.

The list of tenant friendly suburbs was compiled by analysing all suburbs within 100kms of capital cities that had a socio-economic score of four or more and then ranking them in order of cheapest median rent.

Suburbs that had fewer than three vacant rentals were excluded from the list.

Just one Sydney suburb made it onto Rent Rabbit’s top 20 tenant-friendly markets.

All the suburbs that made the list had a median weekly rent of $340 or below and were located within 35km of the CBD.

RentRabbit.com.au co-founder Ben Pretty said it was encouraging to see that tenants still had some decent options despite it being “a landlord’s market” across much of the country.

“Australia’s vacancy rate has fallen considerably over the past two years, which has made it

harder for tenants to find accommodation and has led to sharp rental increases,” he said.

“I’ve been hearing some really harrowing stories of tenants doing it hard, especially families on lower incomes.”

Weekly rent has dropped $40 at 2/818-826 Canterbury Rd, Roselands.

He said the report showed that while conditions were tough for tenants, it was still possible to find accommodation deemed “affordable, desirable and commutable.”

Property records show a number of Roselands rentals that have dropped in price over the past year.

The advertised weekly rent at 2/818-826 Canterbury Road dropped from $400 a week in December 2021 to $360 a week in February this year, while rent at nearby 24/1236 Canterbury Road went from $480 in July 2019 to $465 in February 2022.

Rent dropped $15 a week in a matter of days at 11/5 Phillip St, Roselands.

Rent at 11/5 Phillip Street Roselands dropped from $410 to $395 in the space of a few days in March this year.

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Originally published as Roselands named Sydney’s most tenant-friendly suburb