‘Astonishing’: Sydney quarterly rental price growth

“Astonishing” new data has revealed the 452 Sydney suburbs where rents have spiked in just three months. SEARCH YOUR SUBURB.

Sydney is experiencing “astronomical” rental price growth, with asking rents surging by as much as $400 a week in some suburbs in just three months.

PropTrack’s latest quarterly rental data has revealed that extreme recent pressure on renters has ramped up to new heights, with more than half of Sydney’s suburbs seeing price increases over the quarter.

Of these, more than 20 locations are now paying upwards of $100 a week more than they were in December 2023.

PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said the data shows the difficulty tenants are now facing all over Sydney.

“Some of the suburbs in this list have seen astronomical growth,” Ms Flaherty said.

“To have so many suburbs with double digit rental growth even just over a quarter is astonishing.”

MORE: Cheap suburbs you should buy in before prices surge

Renters Sally Alrich-Smythe and Sam Gill had to up their price and downgrade their living situation to secure tenancy in the current rental climate. Picture: Richard Dobson

Dundas, in the historically more affordable Parramatta region, had the greatest increase by percentage.

Median rent for houses in Dundas rose 21.43 per cent over the quarter, surging from $700 to $850 a week.

This time last year, the Dundas median rent was $600 a week, meaning it has jumped by more than 40 per cent year-on-year.

Houses in Bayview and units in Millers Point were also costing tenants an extra $150 a week.

Houses in Bellevue Hill had the second highest growth of almost 20 per cent, taking its median price to $2,625 – meaning tenants were shelling out an extra $425 a week compared to three months earlier.

“It’s not just the highly sought after Eastern Suburbs, it’s in the West and Parramatta, we are seeing it all over Sydney,” Ms Flaherty said.

Houses in Wilberforce (+15.38 per cent), Woodbine (+13.37 per cent), Bayview (+12.78 per cent), Woollahra (+12.5 per cent) and Stanmore (+12.11 per cent) had the next biggest quarterly increases.

Tenants union CEO Leo Patterson Ross said finding the extra funds to keep a house over their heads was putting enormous strain on Sydney households.

A three bedroom home in Dundas was advertised for rent at $830 a week. Dundas has experienced huge rental price increases in the past three months.

“That’s an extra $5000 a year that some households are having to find to cover their rent. Some household incomes have increased somewhat, but not as rapidly as these rental prices,” Mr Patterson Ross said.

He said the renting sector was an essential service and needed to be viewed as such.

“We don’t let other essentials like healthcare rise as quickly in thousands of dollars a year for the same service, it’s not that the property has improved at all, it’s that the market is out of control and allowing people to increase prices,” he said, adding that current tenants were having their standards of living impacted.

“People are avoiding raising really legitimate issues on repairs because they’re so scared of (a rent) increase,” he said, adding that finding extra money for rent is also affecting people’s ability to cover food, healthcare and other costs.

“Even things like spending on cafes and local businesses, it’s all suffering, it has wider economic costs, particularly in NSW we are facing a big loss.”

NSW Tenants Union CEO Leo Patterson Ross said the rental sector needed to be treated like the essential service it is. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Ms Flaherty said there is no short term relief in sight for renters.

“There is a really slow supply in rental accommodation in Sydney. The rapid growth in population and a shortfall in the housing supply is bad news for people looking to buy and rent,” she said.

Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn said the worrying intensification of rental pressures follows the worst year in over a decade for new home-building starts.

“Higher density home building starts sank to a 12-year low during 2023, which is only driving rental inflation further,” Ms Wawn said.

Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn said 2023 was the worst year for new home-building starts. Picture: Gaye Gerard

“Master Builders’ latest set of forecasts indicates that we will build 110,000 fewer new homes than what we need to meet the Housing Accord.”

Mr Patterson Ross said there needed to be an increase in buildings in the public and community sector that were the size, price and type that people want to live in.

“With price setting of rents we can learn lessons from cities and countries all over the world and take what works and bring it into NSW,” he said.

“Particularly with increases – once one person raises the rent a high amount and finds a desperate renter to fill it, than that's a signal to everyone else, then you get this spiral of rents increasing because everyone else is,” he said.

Young couple, Sally Alrich-Smythe and Sam Gill were forced to move out of their Croydon rental property in November 2023 due to the landlord selling.

Sally Alrich-Smythe said her and partner Sam Gill almost had to ask her Mum to be their greyhound Ed’s carer to secure a rental in Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

“Returning to the market in the space of less than a year, we were paying $700 for three bedrooms and a study, it became clear we weren’t going to be able to get even two bedrooms for less than $800,” Ms Alrich-Smythe said.

They spent two months trying to secure new tenancy as prices had increased, vacancy was tight and they had the additional hurdle of their greyhound Ed.

“Every real estate agent said to us that you’re never going to be most attractive tenants because we have a greyhound. We started to panic because we thought we would have to ask my mum to be Ed’s permanent carer which was breaking my heart,” she said.

Ms Alrich-Smythe said her and Mr Gill were considering moving out of Sydney in the future due to rental prices. Picture: Richard Dobson

“He’s (Ed) is such a mental health thing for me in particular so the reality of not being able to be pet owners just to secure tenancy in Sydney would have been a huge compromise.”

Ms Alrich-Smythe said the couple were forced to start having conversations about their living situation earlier than what they anticipated.

“We are starting to think whether we will have to leave the city, it definitely doesn’t feel like we could start a family living here.”

Originally published as ‘Astonishing’: Sydney quarterly rental price growth