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The state has moved to ban no-grounds evictions, among other rental reforms.
A bill amendment that passed NSW Parliament on 24 October has been criticised by the Real Estate Institute of NSW (REINSW), with the peak body calling the event a “dark day” for the state.
The organisation said that the government had “disingenuously” sold the reforms as a “win for renters”, making the case that if landlords are disincentivised to maintain or purchase properties in the state due to these reforms, the rental market will contract and tenants will be worse off.
“In recent years, the wave of anti-landlord reforms and rhetoric coming from government have made it increasingly difficult to make the case to invest in residential property in New South Wales. It just got considerably harder and renters are the ones who are bearing the brunt,” REINSW CEO Tim McKibbin said.
He commented that at the moment in the state, “vacancy rates are incredibly tight [and] demand is far outweighing supply which directly contributes to higher rents”.
Sydney’s vacancy rate at the end of September 2024 sat at 1.9 per cent, with regional areas seeing similar or lower figures. The popular Hunter and Illawarra regions, for example, came in at 1.4 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.
McKibbin warned that vacancy rates could shrink further if landlords react negatively to the state’s new policies.
“Investors have other less risky and less troublesome avenues in which to invest and every time an investor sells, another rental property is lost to the market. Increased rents are a direct outcome of decreased rental supply,” McKibbin said.
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