Sydney’s vacancy rates have fallen to levels last seen in March 2012, according to the latest data from the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW).
The November 2013 REINSW Vacancy Rate survey has revealed the availability of residential rental accommodation across the Sydney metropolitan area as a whole declined 0.1 per cent to 1.6 per cent.
REINSW president Malcolm Gunning said: “The latter part of 2013 has seen Sydney rates steadily declining, which is not good news for tenants looking to secure a property heading into the holiday period."
Vacancy rates dropped in both the inner and outer suburbs of Sydney; the inner suburbs declined by 0.1 per cent to 1.6 per cent, and the outer suburbs fell 0.4 per cent to 1.3 per cent. The middle suburbs, however, experienced a slight improvement, rising 0.2 per cent to 1.8 per cent.
“It is difficult for people to find housing and this is of grave concern,” Mr Gunning said. “The rising population and lack of new housing developments is fuelling this shortage.”
The Illawarra region also saw declines, with a vacancy rate of 1.8 per cent in November (down by 0.2 per cent), led by a fall of 0.1 per cent to 2.2 per cent in Wollongong.
Newcastle saw an increase of 0.5 per cent to 2.9 per cent, while the Hunter region as a whole was up 0.3 per cent at 3.2 per cent.
In regional areas, the south coast and central coast were the hardest places to find rental accommodation, at 1.8 per cent, with falls of 0.9 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.
There was a substantial decline in properties available in the Northern Rivers, which fell 0.9 per cent to 2.4 per cent.
Meanwhile, the easiest places to find rental accommodation in the state were the central west and south eastern NSW, which remained steady from October at 4.1 per cent and 4.0 per cent respectively.
Albury vacancies were up 0.2 per cent to 2.0 per cent and the mid-north coast added 0.9 per cent to be 2.8 per cent.
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