The Sydney rental crisis has hit new heights with the number of people looking for properties with rents higher than $400 a week doubling in the past four years, according to an article published by the Sunday Telegraph.
This is a bad news for renters while it is a good news for property investors as this signs a strong demand in Sydney rental market.
Only 20 per cent of Sydney renters looking to rent sought out properties in this bracket in 2008 while 40 per cent of renters were in this category in February 2011, the research by website realestate.com.au reveals.
The survey of almost 3000 people conducted between January and February 2011 revealed it took 80 per cent of people two months to find a place to lease.
The crisis is worse in popular suburbs, with Bondi one of the worst-affected. In the extreme, 42 groups had inspected a $460-week, one-bedroom unit and 11 people applied to rent it.
Almost a third of people are now offering more rent – most commonly $10 to $20 more a week – in a bid to secure somewhere to live.
A similar number were offering up-front payments such as a month’s rent in advance to nab a property.
More people aged 35 to 49 are now renting (31 per cent), the primary reason being to invest extra cash in other income streams.
The number of people in the $100,000-plus income bracket looking to rent rose by 10 per cent to represent 30 per cent of the rental market.
This may be a good news for property investors but there are other tenants that are planning to buy a house because its much more expensive to rent.