If you’re a renter in Sydney at the moment, chances are you’ve been feeling the pinch — not only during the pandemic, but post-pandemic too.
It’s so bad at the moment, that some lecherous landlords are hiking up rental prices by hundreds of dollars and abruptly kicking out renters who try to negotiate.
According to The Daily Telegraph, some rent has gone up as much as $300 dollars in inner city suburbs like Zetland.
One Zetland resident named Sarah told The Daily Tele that her landlord said they would increase her rent by an extra 35% (from $630 to $850 a week).
“Due to the inflation of the economy and overseas students coming back, the market has increased a lot compared to the Covid period,” the landlord informed her.
When Sarah tried to negotiate, she was instead met with a termination notice.
Reddit user u/trank90 also had a similar rent increase, with an official notice informing them they’d have to pay $610 a week instead of $460 come December.
Twitter user Scott Dawkins took his frustrations to social media when his rent was unexpectedly increased due to “inflation”.
https://twitter.com/dawkins_scott/status/1567408322822676482
Digital Finance Analytics principal Martin North told The Daily Telegraph that there are three main reasons why we are now seeing rental prices skyrocket.
One is evidently the COVID pandemic, as rent is now catching up after being frozen for the last two years. The other is that property investors were having to pay more for their mortgage due to interest going up. The third is not enough supply and too much demand.
According to the 2022 Demographia International Housing Affordability Report, the average house price in Sydney is 15 times the average household income. In fact, Sydney came second on the list of least affordable markets in the world.
To put it simply, that’s fucked. How on Earth are people meant to live if they can’t afford to buy, but also can’t afford to rent???
