After taking a dive last month, the REINSW Vacancy Rate Survey results show that residential vacancies in Sydney stabilised in August.

“The vacancy rate for Sydney overall remained steady at 1.7%,” REINSW CEO Tim McKibbin said. “While the stabilisation is good news, it’s important to remember that the residential vacancy rate is still at its lowest level in five years, when it sat at 1.7% in August 2017.

“This historical low for Sydney shows that the rental crisis is far from over.”

Outside Sydney, vacancy rates in the Illawarra also remained stable at 1.2%, while the Hunter region decreased slightly to 1.4% (-0.2%).

While vacancy rates furthered tightened in many regional areas, there were also those areas that eased.

“Vacancy rates for the Albury, Central Coast, Central West, Mid-North Coast, Murrumbidgee, Orana and Riverina areas all recorded drops,” Mr McKibbin said. “However, the Coffs Harbour, New England, Northern Rivers, South Coast and South East areas each rose.

“REINSW members across New South Wales are telling us that they’ve never experienced the levels of desperation they’ve seen from tenants in recent months. So many agents have a long list of pre-qualified tenants, but there’s simply not enough stock available to meet the ongoing demand.

“Demand for rental accommodation certainly isn’t slowing, but the of number properties in the supply pipeline is, as cost-of-living pressures continue to force landlords to sell their hard-earned investment properties. The inevitable knock-on impact is fewer properties available in the rental pool.”

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