Rental shortage at crisis point as 100 people line up for two-bedroom Clovelly unit
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The frustrating ritual of waiting in long lines with other desperate potential tenants for the few affordable housing on the market has been exposed in a video.
A video taken on Saturday shows a queue of about 100 people descending a path from the front door of a two-bedroom apartment open for inspection on Saturday in Sydney’s eastern suburb of Clovelly.
The line of what appears to be 20-year-olds slowly shuffles forward as they wait to look over the $700-a-week ground floor apartment.
A long line of potential tenants winds down the side path of a Sydney street, waiting for a $700-a-week two-bedroom rental in the eastern suburb of Clovelly
‘How are you finding a rental property in Sydney?’ tweeted ABC digital journalist Nick Sas, who took the video.
“I just saw nearly 100 people inspect a 2 bed 700pw apartment in Clovelly.”
The advert for the property claims it is ‘nestled in a prized pocket of Clovelly and ‘its ground floor location offers a perfect blend of beachside appeal and village convenience’.
Adding to the allure of the apartment are the ‘Art Deco’ styling along with ‘high ceilings, carpet floors, modern kitchen and bathroom, fitted wardrobes and balcony off master bedroom’.
Pictures from the listing seemed to support the descriptions of newly painted and brightly lit kitchen, dining and bathroom areas.
Waiting in line for hours to inspect has become the all-too-familiar weekend ritual for those hunting the increasingly rare affordable rental properties.
A photo of the ‘newly painted’ kitchen in the Clovelly apartment for $700 a week rent
A similar line of about 100 people was spotted last month inspecting a very modest studio apartment in Sydney’s beachfront suburb of Bondi.
The queue to inspect the studio was ‘like queuing to enter a nightclub’.
Potential tenants say they were attracted by the proximity to Bondi Beach, which was less than a five-minute walk away.
A man interested in renting the Bondi unit but declined to be identified by name told Daily Mail Australia that the line stretched ‘from the top of the stairs into the street’ and caught the attention of locals .
The queue to inspect an upstairs studio for 68 Gould Street, Bondi Beach, with everyone waiting up to 20 minutes to get in, was ‘like queuing to enter a nightclub’
The top body for housing policy in NSW, Shelter NSW, told Daily Mail Australia that applying for rental housing has become ‘like The Hunger Games’
What the property looked like upon inspection, after queuing for 20 minutes with up to 100 potential tenants
The online listing shows off an airy kitchen, but upon inspection, this area was occupied by a pull-out bed
Even the agent was “shocked” at how many people came to see what was advertised as a “beach studio” for a low $380 a week.
But once inside most were disappointed, even at that price.
‘The photos online showed a light, airy and clean apartment – but when I finally had to babysit after waiting for 20 minutes, I felt claustrophobic after five minutes,’ John told Daily Mail Australia.
“I was shocked at how different it looked from what was advertised online.”
“The unit barely fit in the double bed, with the kitchen about three feet away,” John said.
The bathroom at the address looked different from the photo in the ad, John said.
The stressful reality of Australia’s rental crisis was exposed with hundreds of people queuing to inspect a small unit that looked different from the online listing
The bathroom as it appeared in the online advertisement for the studio at 68 Gould Street, Bondi Beach
The actual bathroom looked different from the online photos
The sharp decline in moderately priced rental housing was highlighted by a recent report that found homes available for less than $400 a week had fallen from 41.8 percent before the Covid pandemic to just 19.3 percent.
The numbers came from an analysis of realestate.com.au listings by PropTrack Market Insight, a real estate research group.
National figures show an incredibly tight market with only 0.9 percent of available rental properties.
In Sydney, the figure is at a record low of 1.3 percent, which is almost half of last July’s level of 2.4 percent.
In Melbourne, the rental vacancy rate is only slightly higher at 1.4 percent, while the situation in Brisbane and Hobart is even worse.
The much sought after Clovelly ground floor apartment also had a balcony off the master bedroom
In Brisbane, only 0.7 percent of homes are for rent.
Perth also has nearly a record number of homes for rent.
The top body for housing policy in NSW, Shelter NSW, told the Daily Mail Australia in September that applying for rental housing has become ‘like The Hunger Games’.
Cathy Callaghan, senior policy officer at Shelter NSW, said governments should recognize that renting is no longer ‘a phase’ that people go through.
“A lot of people are renting now, and a lot of them will be renting for life,” she said.
“Over a third of households rent in NSW.
ABC digital reporter Nick Sas also highlighted the dwindling number of interested buyers as higher interest rates cool the property market.
Rent should be a reasonable alternative to owning your own home – in terms of affordability and security.
“Instead, we see the Hunger Games being played – with unfair evictions, price gouging and very stressful job applications.”
Pressure on the rental market is likely to increase as rising interest rates discourage people from buying new homes.
This was also noted by Nas, who found that there was much less demand for inspecting a nearby apartment for sale than for the rental in Clovelly.
“To highlight the difference between renting and buying in Sydney right now, I counted 8 people inspecting (purchasing) this 2 bedroom apartment,” Nas tweeted.