Leichhardt and Randwick the epicentre of Sydney rental squeeze
?The tightening Sydney rental market has its epicentre in the inner-city suburbs of Leichhardt and Randwick as vacancies across the greater metropolitan region tightened from 1.4% to 1.3% over October, according to NSW Department of Housing analysed by PRDnationwide.
Leichhardt in Sydney’s inner west is experiencing the largest increase for a two-bedroom unit (20% year-on-year to September) and the second largest for a three-bedroom house (12%), while the Randwick municipality in Sydney’s east recorded the largest growth in median rent for a three-bedroom house, equating to 14.3% between September 2010 and 2011.
The median rent for a three-bedroom house in both Randwick and Leichhardt was $800 per week as at September 2011.
The average increase in median rent across all municipalities in greater metropolitan Sydney equated to 5.8% for a three-bedroom house, with a 6.4% increase in the rent for a two-bedroom unit – slower growth than the average of 8% per annum (three-bedroom house) and 8.3% (two-bedroom unit) recorded over the past five years.
The increase in rents in Randwick follows growth in demand for rental accommodation in the suburb, with the municipality now accounting for 4.2% of the total 531,838 rental bonds held in the greater metropolitan region.
The highest proportion of rental bonds is held in City of Sydney, accounting for 9.5% of total bonds.
Sydney and Randwick were also found to contain some of the highest concentration of rental properties of the total dwelling stock, corresponding to 63% in Sydney and 47% for Randwick.
The most expensive place to rent in the Sydney metropolitan area is in the Waverley Council, in the inner east, which includes the suburbs of Bondi and Bondi Beach, where the median rent for a three-bedroom house is of $980 per week.
The most expensive median rent for a unit was recorded in the City of Sydney, where a two-bedroom unit returned $600 per week in September 2011.
Around Sydney the council area of Botany Bay recorded strong increases in new rental bonds for the past three consecutive quarters, with a September growth representing an 18.4% increase on the same period in 2010.
Nationally, houses are currently taking an average of 56 days to sell with units typically selling in 54 days, according to RPData.