Rental vacancies fall in Sydney's inner and outer suburbs but rise in middle ring

Sydney rental vacancies remained unchanged for the third consecutive month in November.

In the major regional cities, Newcastle vacancies declined, but increased in Wollongong, according to the Real Estate Institute of NSW.

November’s rental vacancy rate for the Sydney metropolitan area remained steady at 1.4%.

Decreases were recorded in Sydney’s inner and outer suburbs, while middle suburbs recorded a slight increase.

•             Inner suburbs (0-10km from CBD) fell 0.1% to 1.2%

•             Middle suburbs (10-25km from CBD), rose 0.1% to 1.7%

•             Outer suburbs (more than 25 km from CBD) fell 0.1% to 1.3%

Newcastle recorded a sharp decline last month, down 0.3% to 1.6% although in contrast, Wollongong recorded a 0.4% increase to 2.2%.

Across the Hunter region vacancy rates fell 0.3 to 1.4% and in the Illawarra region they rose 0.1 to 1.8%.

Vacancy rates fell on the Central Coast for the fourth consecutive month, down 0.2 to 1.5%.

The new president of the REINSW, Christian Payne, has called on government at all levels to work together to address the chronic shortage of rental accommodation.

“As 2011 comes to a close we are in exactly the same desperate straits as last year,” he says.

“In the last 12 months the percentage of available properties for rental has not even come close to breaking through the 2% barrier; that is an appalling outcome given our claim to being the ‘premier state’.

“It is incumbent upon government to act in a constructive and decisive way to tackle the rental crisis that is an entrenched part of New South Wales.”