In the latest edition of ‘tell me you live in Sydney without telling me you live in Sydney’, hundreds waited in lines nearly as bad as the ones for COVID testing facilities to inspect a rental property in southwest Sydney.
In footage shared by TikToker @kuzman67 (who lives in the area) people could be seen waiting in a long queue and cars parked everywhere to check out a pad across the road.
@kuzman67 Rent in Sydney. Open house for a rental property. 200+ people turned up at the same time. Blocked the whole neighbourhood. #rent #sydneyaustralia #houserental #gridlock #police #unbelievable
According to news.com.au, the property in question is reportedly a four-bedroom, two-bathroom one-story in Hinchinbrook for $530 a week. Meanwhile, I pay almost double that for a rental apartment in Ultimo.
“Two hundred plus, maybe more, people turned up,” the man recording said in the video as he described the scene as “unbelievable” and unlike anything he’d seen before.
“Total gridlock of the whole street. People driving on grass, footpaths, parking everywhere, blocking driveways.”
The TikTok then cuts to the street later on where the wannabe renters of the house have moved on from the area and two polices outside on the road.
Real estate agent Isbaella Mucedole from Blaze Real Estate told News.com.au that roughly 100 punters signed in to view the property while another hundred were waiting outside.
She also confirmed that police were eventually called in after reports of illegal parking.
The agency is now only taking bookings of up to ten people per house inspection, which even without this scene seems fair given the current health crisis climate.
In semi-related news, apparently, the renting scene in Australia is a “landlord’s market”, which should come as no surprise for anyone paying $275 a week for a converted study in a mould-infested sharehouse surrounded by a seemingly endless horde of drunk, screaming teenagers roaming the streets at 3am.
According to property website Domain, landlords are winning again (as they’ve done in virtually every era of history except for, like, the French Revolution) as the number of vacant rental properties available is decreasing.
So yeah, I don’t blame these people for lining up to inspect a 4-bed, 2-bath house at $530 a week like it was a One Direction concert.
