$700 a week to share an apartment: Sydney’s student housing crisis laid bare

Sydney’s university students are facing skyrocketing accommodation costs as weekly rent at some buildings passes $700 for a room in a small shared apartment.

A Herald analysis which included university-owned and privately operated accommodation found many student room rents increased by more than 35 per cent since 2019, the median rent increase for a one-bedroom apartment in Greater Sydney over the same time period.

Spikes were highest among new buildings owned by private providers. A student in an apartment share at Scape Redfern pays 48 per cent more than in 2022 ($739, up from $499), while Castle One in Camperdown increased its twin room rate by 44.6 per cent to $559.

Iglu Summer Hill, 20 minutes’ commute from the University of Sydney and UTS, increased rents 44 per cent over the past three years. At $749 a week, a studio in the building costs more than the suburb’s median rent.

At Scape Central, a twin room is 88 per cent dearer than in 2022 at $489 a week.

With students discouraged from, or, for international students, prohibited from full-time work during term, and Youth Allowance at $330 a week, “student housing” is increasingly unaffordable for students.

The smaller number of university-owned accommodation buildings offer savings of up to half the private providers, though rents have still increased.

Sydney University’s The Regiment has increased 15 per cent since 2019, while UTS’s Yura Mudang’s rose by 11 per cent from 2020 to 2025. Australian Catholic University’s North Sydney student accommodation has increased rent between 12 and 22 per cent since 2019.

University-owned accommodation at Macquarie University saw the highest increase: between 18 and 23 per cent since 2022.

UNSW has not meaningfully increased accommodation prices since 2019, though its affiliated colleges’ fees are up by 29 per cent.

UTS students Eryn Yates and Neeve Nagle both live in student housing.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Spokespersons from UNSW and Sydney University said they attempted to keep prices at 75 per cent of market rate.

When Neeve Nagle moved from Singleton to Sydney to study law and communications at UTS in 2022 aged 18, she knew private providers were well out of her price range.

“UTS Housing was the only option, or it was going home,” she said.

In 2021, Scape acquired most of UTS’s housing.

Eventually, she secured a shared apartment at UTS’s remaining building, Yura Mudang, for $894 fortnightly. Working in a call centre, the 20-year-old receives government support and a stipend for her welfare officer role at the university, but still spends more than half her income on rent.

“It’s a good 60 per cent – if I don’t work much, it’s 70 per cent,” she said.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare classifies spending above 30 per cent of income on rent as rental stress.

When Anu-Ujin Khulan arrived in Sydney from Mongolia to study politics and finance at Sydney University, most student accommodation was “pretty full”.

“I just found whatever was available,” she said. But $700 a week for an apartment share at Scape Glebe was putting pressure on her family to support her.

“I had to find somewhere cheaper,” she said.

When Khulan finally scored a place at Sydney University’s Queen Mary Building, for $360 a week, breaking her Scape contract attracted a $4000 penalty.

Asked what the solution to the crisis is, she said: “Just build more buildings.”

University administrators agree.

“Change to planning laws would also enable all NSW universities – not just Sydney – to fast-track developments to be able to build many more student accommodation options,” a Sydney University spokesperson said.

Student Accommodation Council executive Torie Brown blamed high prices on operating costs.

“The cost of construction has gone up 40 per cent,” she said. “Land taxes, 24-hour staffing … foreign investor tax … all of these are impacting the cost of business.”

She said university-owned accommodation could afford lower rates because it was exempt from most of these taxes.

However, figures from the Student Accommodation Council showed council rates and land tax together accounted for less than $70 each week per occupant.

Yasmin Reiazi had been living in a hostel for 10 months, then an airless closet in the CBD, before she found a room at Stucco Housing Co-operative, which has operated as self-run student accommodation for 33 years.

“It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she said.

Rent is a flat rate of $119 each week, which mostly goes to capital works the students complete by themselves.

It is one of few inner Sydney rentals affordable for students on Youth Allowance. But there’s another form of payment, said Stucco vice-president Josephine Thwaites.

“You pay for it in labour hours – about four hours a week, of which two are meetings.”

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