Last December, Sydney added nearly 3000 rental units. (photo of property website Realestate)
A large number of new rental homes have emerged, making Sydney a tenant-led market, according to property website Realestate.
Sydney added nearly 3000 rental homes in December, raising the city`s housing vacancy rate to 3.6 percent, the highest level in years, according to data released on Tuesday. The surge in housing has given tenants more options.
At the beginning of this month, just over 25,000 homes were rented across Sydney, about 7800 more than in early 2018, according to SQM Research, a housing market research firm. The total number of rental properties in Sydney is now more than twice that of Melbourne.
Christopher (Louis Christopher), managing director of SQM Research, a property research firm, said the surge in rental housing in Sydney in December was due in part to seasonal adjustments, which typically led to lower demand for tenants that month. If vacancy rates continue to rise in January and February, the Sydney rental market will be dominated by tenants this year.
Sydney is not the only city with a rising vacancy rate. Darwin`s housing vacancy rate rose to 4.3 percent in December and Melbourne rose to 2.2 percent from 1.9 percent in November. Brisbane rose to 3.2%, up from 3% in November. Hobart`s rentals are among the most tense in Australia, with only 121 rentals in December, with a vacancy rate as low as 0.4 percent.
