Apartment rents soar in our two biggest cities

Australia’s rents are continuing to rise rapidly, with median rents hitting record highs across five of the eight capital cities over the past three months. 

And it’s renters in units – more than half the residents of apartment blocks – who have been hit the hardest.

The latest quarterly Domain Rent Report, released on Thursday, revealed that a combination of increased demand and restricted supply has pushed national rents higher than ever previously recorded.

And while house rents, nationally, have gone up by 11.5 per cent over the past year, units have grown by a massive 26.1 per cent.

Sydney is by far the most expensive capital city in which to rent an apartment with an 8.1 per cent rise to $670 a week, over the March quarter.

Melbourne unit rents have also gone up, rising $90 per week over the past year and reaching a record high median rent of $500, up 4.2 per cent in three months and 22 per cent more expensive than a year ago.

Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell told Nine newspapers that rents had increased for a record period because of high migration, low growth in housing stock and the pandemic-fuelled trend towards fewer people per household.

The increases were particularly steep in Melbourne’s inner city, where unit rents jumped 25.8 per cent in a year to a median $560, while the inner east rose 22 per cent and inner south rose 19 per cent.

Meanwhile more landlords than ever are making profit, according to a report in the Guardian.

Just over half of rental properties are owned by landlords with at least 2.6 rental properties in addition to their own homes, claims tenants’ research and advocacy group Better Renting .

Better Renting executive director Joel Dignam said that while renters have been hit with higher rents, landlords are making bigger profits than ever, with the number making a profit at an all-time high in 2020-21: 53% of landlords made a net profit, totalling over $10 billion.