A Sydney tenant has revealed the brutal dilemma currently facing those seeking rentals across the city after she encountered multiple homes she said were “unliveable” or too expensive, while others were snapped up before inspections could even take place.
Jess Gallagher, who now rents a sharehouse in Surry Hills with three other flatmates, said her rent was “substantial”.
Jess Gallagher pictured at her rental property in Surry Hills. Picture: Rohan Kelly.
She experienced intense competition in Sydney’s fast-moving rental market.
“Quite often I was competing against a lot of other people,” she said.
“People get their offers in so quickly that sometimes you wouldn’t even get to do the viewings because they already agreed to have someone else moved in.”
When did she find somewhere that was not crawling with competitors, it was for a reason.
“Trying to find somewhere that’s up to scratch was a challenge,” she said.
“I went to a few viewings and I found that they were just not really liveable.
“While they were a lot cheaper, they were just not quite up to par.”
It comes as research from financial services platform Our Top 10 showed the population of 20-29 year olds in some parts of Sydney had increased four fold since 2021.
Faced with a high level of competition and low quality options on the market, Ms Gallagher turned to Facebook, where she eventually found a house share to stay in Surry Hills.
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Ms Gallagher, who moved to Sydney from Auckland this year, has experienced the chaos of the Sydney rental market. Picture: Rohan Kelly.
While she previously paid the same rent for a smaller apartment in Double Bay, Ms Gallagher said Surry Hills was still “definitely on the pricey side.”
Drawing upon past experiences, Ms Gallagher said she would like to see property managers reflect the price renters are now paying in Sydney.
“Having someone be a little bit more quick and actionable when you have requests, certainly when people are paying as much as they’re paying for the property is a big one,” she said.
She added that she would like to see processes put in place by government to give renters “a more fair go” in securing a property.
Ms Gallagher said the prospect of owning a home herself “feels out of reach” in Sydney.
“You kind of need a dual income to make that work,” she said. “So I guess it’s the goal but it does feel pretty unattainable in the current climate.”
Rental stress is likely the reason many young renters are now seeking places outside of the city.
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A rental inspection line at Bondi Beach posted to TikTok in April received over 995,000 views. Picture: @emscontentcreation on TikTok.
New analysis by OurTop10 has identified areas within each capital city where the 20-29 population is surging at unprecedented rates, with some locations experiencing growth exceeding 300 per cent over five years.
Among the regions recording explosive population increases among those aged 20-29, who typically rent, included Box Hill, where the 20-29 population was up 337 per cent over the last five years.
The Marsden Park-Shanes Park area recorded 275 per cent population growth among the same age group.
Our Top 10 director Simon Ma said: “The northwest and southwest corridors offer explosive growth rates … driven by new housing estates and infrastructure like the Sydney Metro and the Western Sydney Airport”.
The median rent for a house in Box Hill currently sits at $800 per week.
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