If you’re thinking about booking a place in Sydney over the new year period, and you haven’t looked into it yet, you may want to get onto that shit as quickly as possible.
A search of Airbnb properties in the city shows that, as of this morning, only 3% are still available to book on the night of new year’s eve, and prices for those still available have surged as high as $4300-per-night.
One inner-city apartment that normally rents for $260-per-night has surged to $4303, inclusive of service fees and cleaning, on the night of December 31.
The “high end, designer” apartment near Hyde Park sleeps five, and offers stylish penthouse living, with such amenities as two single beds pushed together under a doona:
Image via Airbnb
Another rental we found in Darling Harbour, advertised as a two-bedroom property that sleeps up to six and features water views, is going for a comparatively reasonable $2659 on the night.
All of those properties pale in comparison to the luxury motor yacht we found at Rozelle, which comes fully staffed with a crew, sleeps six and can be yours for an Oprah-level $29,684 for the night.
The Sydney Morning Herald spoke to one landlady who normally rents her Wooloomooloo apartment for $125-per-night, but jacked that price up more than tenfold over the new year period, to $1640.
The owner of the apartment, identified as only ‘Pauline‘, said that there had not been any interest yet, but added: “We just thought – if we get it, we get it; if we don’t, we don’t.”
The Herald also spoke to Sam McDonagh, Airbnb’s Australian manager, who seemed pretty chill about the surge prices, saying that house and apartment owners can do whatever the hell they want, and:
“The market ultimately decides if the price they’ve set is fair.”
There are still a few bargains to be had amid the thousand-dollar listings, but you’d better get in quick, or the question will soon be how badly you really want to see in the new year in Sydney.
via Fairfax
