Sydney rents pushed to record high and it's not stopping just yet

In case you haven’t seen it yet, a video posted on TikTok went viral when it shows more than 200 people lined up for house inspection somewhere in Sydney's South West earlier this month.

Watch the video:

@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 ♬ original sound - Kuzman67

This comes as renters are becoming increasingly desperate to find new homes in a much tighter market this Summer. Rental vacancy rates around Australia remained to be at record low and are likely to tighten though 2022. Compare to 2020’s figure in December to 2021’s; the number of vacant properties nationally has from 54,000 to 37,000 - a 31% reduction.

As a result of lessened supply, asking rents have risen 9.1% to $600 per week for the median Sydney house in 2021, with 3.4% attributed from last 3 months according to the Domain Rent Report released earlier.

After a 2-years long battle with the pandemic, people are still searching for more and better space to WFH during lockdown; with people placing more focus on their homes and are not fazed by premium prices.

If you add border-reopening into the equation which brings a large volume of international migrants into Sydney, 2022 will observe even higher pressure on the rental market – a good news for landlords and investors but not so good for tenants.