Investors tapping out as NSW rental crisis tightens

Mr McKibbin flagged that over the last month, Sydney’s overall vacancy rate had dropped by 0.2 per cent to be just 1.6 per cent.

“This drop, once again, brings vacancies in Sydney to a historical low,” he said.

He highlighted that not since November 2013 — nine years ago — “have we seen the residential vacancy rate for Sydney overall as low as 1.6 per cent”.

Looking beyond Sydney, the CEO conceded that the situation “is [a] little different”.

“While the Hunter region experienced an uptick of 0.4 per cent to be 1.5 per cent, the Illawarra region suffered a dramatic fall of 0.7 per cent to be just 1.1 per cent,” Mr McKibbin noted.

“Across all other regional areas, only the Central Coast, Central West and Murrumbidgee areas saw slight improvements in the availability of rental accommodation. Vacancies in every other regional area fell in November.”

According to the REINSW CEO, the data “once again proves that New South Wales is in the midst of an extreme rental crisis, the likes of which we’ve not seen for decades”.

He conceded that “there is simply not enough housing to cope with demand, and this is putting tremendous pressure on the rental market”.

Flagging that cost-of-living pressures continue to mount, both for tenants and landlords, Mr McKibbin indicated that many tenants are staying put, despite rent increases and other spiralling costs, “for fear they will not be able to secure another suitable property”.

It led the CEO to label the current situation as “truly unprecedented”.

“And, in the face of eight consecutive interest rate rises, more and more landlords are being forced to significantly increase rents,” he outlined.

“Alternatively, they’re choosing to sell their investment properties, which are then being scooped up by home buyers, further reducing rental stock.”

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