Sydney tenants given glimmer of hope as vacancies rise

Things are looking up for Sydney tenants battling some of the worst rent conditions in a generation, with new figures showing the market has improved on one significant front.

Sydney tenants have been given a chance to come up for breath amid the ongoing rental crisis, with conditions easing for the third month in a row.

The city’s vacancy rate, which measures the share of all rental listings currently advertised for rent, grew to 1.4 per cent, up 0.16 per cent from a month ago, PropTrack May figures showed.

The easing in vacancies has improved the market for tenants, but the supply of rentals remains marginally lower than a year ago and 55 per cent lower than in March 2020.

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PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan said the market was improving but still extremely challenging for renters.

The supply of available homes has increased.

“While any easing in conditions will be welcomed by renters, available properties remain very scarce with the vacancy rate at around half the levels seen before the pandemic,” he said.

“This means competition for rentals will remain strong and rents will continue to increase.”

He added that strong rental growth was expected over the rest of 2024 in most markets.

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SQM Research director Louis Christopher noted a similar inching up in vacancies across his research firm’s numbers.

House rents have continued to grow faster than unit rents because of the scarcer supply.

“The rental crisis is still far from over at this stage. The immediate outlook is vacancy rates are set to rise somewhat into winter. This is the normal seasonality we get at this time of year,” he said.

“One should be a little careful about reading into these rises. Nevertheless, it might provide some minor relief to tenants who still have excessive difficulties in finding longer term rental accommodation around the country.”

The typical house across Greater Sydney, which includes The Central Coast, is being listed for $720 per week.

PropTrack indicated that a typical house across Sydney is being advertised at $720 per week, while unit rents average $650.

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Both median figures were more than $150 a week higher than the medians recorded in mid-2021.

Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said there was evidence that increases in unit rents were slowing faster than those for houses owing to the greater supply of city apartments giving unit tenants more choice.

Originally published as Sydney tenants given glimmer of hope as vacancies rise