Latest NewsRents Soar in Sydney's Housing ShortageThursday, 19 January 2017

Sydneysiders are paying up to $30 a week more for rent than they were just three months ago as prices soar amid the city's housing shortage, a lobby group says.

Renters of suburban homes and inner-Sydney apartments were the hardest hit in the latest series of rolling increases, according to property development industry group Urban Taskforce.

The figures, released by the NSW government on Tuesday, show the pressure is on once again, as housing supply in Sydney lags behind demand, the taskforce's chief executive Aaron Gadiel said.

Median rents for two-bedroom apartments jumped by four per cent in the March quarter, with Woollahra properties attracting the biggest hikes.

Average rents in the eastern Sydney council area grew by $30 a week to $570, while those in the nearby CBD rose $20 to $590 a we

Renters in Botany and Ashfield were forced to fork out $10 a week more for similar properties, with rents in those areas rising to $370 and $380 respectively, he said.

Further out, Sydney families living in three-bedroom suburban homes were faced with a 2.9 per cent increase, with median rents growing from $340 to $350 a week.

Pittwater homes rose by $30 to $650 a week, while Camden prices went from $360 to $380.

Mr Gadiel said rents in the outer fringe had increased by more than three times the rate of inflation.

"It's a very substantial increase," he told AAP.

"It's probably what could be expected, even during the global financial crisis. While rents in the inner suburbs slacked off, they kept marching in outer urban Sydney, because there is such a severe shortage of houses with backyards.

"So you've got the same numbers of houses and more and more families chasing them, and that's been bumping rents up."

Mr Gadiel said the number of new homes being built was not keeping pace with high level of demand, and construction across the state had dropped to an all time low in 2009.

"Victoria is approving and building homes at twice the rate of NSW... so you can see how badly we are doing," he said.

"Unfortunately, the people it puts pressure on first and foremost is renters... It's going to become very difficult."

Aside from population pressures, the demand for housing in Sydney was also being driven by the high numbers of singles, an increase in divorces and people living to an older age, he said.

Housing Minister David Borger, however, said the data showed a returning stability to rents across Sydney.

The average rent for the city in the March quarter was $400 a week, just $10 more than the same period a year ago, he said.

"Rents remained relatively stable throughout 2009 and the latest data shows the stability continuing into the first quarter of 2010," Mr Borger said.

The cheapest one-bedroom homes in Sydney's outer ring were found to be in Wyong and Gosford on the central coast, costing just $170 a week.

The most expensive one-bedroom homes are in the Sydney local government area, with average weekly rent coming in at $450.

Meanwhile, a four-bedroom home in Wyong costs just $373 a week, compared to $1,800 in Woollahra.

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