Sad picture shows the grim reality of Sydney’s rental crisis as desperate tenants spend their weekends queuing and offering hundreds of extra
The photo shows a queue at an open rental inspection in Bondi that stretches out the door
The desperate tenant revealed that he had spent months house hunting without success
Others on the community’s Facebook group shared similar struggles to take place
One woman spent four months searching before moving further away from the CBD
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Australia’s rental crisis has been exposed again when a frustrated tenant snapped a photo of people swarming out the door of an open house in one of Sydney’s trendiest suburbs.
The photo, taken at a house for rent in the beachside suburb of Bondi this week, showed the queue of people snaking out the door and down the stairs.
Photographer Edward Dostine took to the Facebook group Bondi Local Loop to vent about spending the past month looking for a location without success.
‘Anyone else struggling to get a tenancy?’ Sir. Dostin wrote.
‘Have been looking with a buddy for over a month now and every inspection has more than 10 people and winning applications are more than $100 over the asking price. Never seen it so bad.’
This image of an open inspection in Bondi sums up Sydney’s dire rental crisis, with desperate tenants offering to pay well above the asking price
His desperate post prompted other eastern suburbs locals in the same boat to share similar horror stories.
‘Applied for maybe 100 apartments and one went through,’ one woman wrote.
Another added: ‘Same problem. More than 15 inspections and many of them much nicer in the picture than in reality. The price is also quite exorbitant.
‘We’ve been looking for something for two months and never seen so many people on inspections. We have already sent four applications and all have been rejected.’
A woman gave a piece of advice – move further away.
“We were looking for four months, the rental market is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” she commented.
“Sorry you’re having such a hard time searching, we moved a little further and found a great place at a great price.”
Another ‘helpful’ local suggested sending ‘sexy’ photos to improve his chances.
Other Sydneysiders shared their own horror stories and advice for securing a lease (comments in a community Facebook group pictured)
Sydney’s vacant homes fell to a decade low of 1.3 per cent in August, almost half the level from 12 months earlier
It comes a fortnight later a paltry $380 a week studio in the same suburb attracted more than 100 potential tenants.
Those who attended described the open inspection as ‘queuing to get into a nightclub’.
Peak housing organization Shelter NSW told Daily Mail Australia that applying for rental housing has become ‘like The Hunger Games’.
Skyrocketing rents and heartbreaking queues caused by record low rental vacancy rates have significantly worsened the outlook for renters.
Nationally, only 0.9 percent of properties are vacant, which is the lowest level in more than 16 years.
In Sydney, the figure is a record low 1.3 per cent. almost half of the 2.4 percent vacancies last July during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Sydneysiders suggested potential tenants look further away from the CBD to find a place. The picture shows the inner city suburb of Balmain