Published by ABC Online, 1 February 2017
New apartments flooding the market in Sydney are actually driving up rent in some areas, according to the latest report from the New South Wales Tenants' Union.
The union's Rent Tracker report, which analyses rental bond data, shows the price for new leases rose about 4 per cent across Sydney in the year to September.
The union's research and advocacy officer Leo Patterson Ross said rents were growing faster for apartments than houses, even in areas where thousands of new units were being built.
"In places like Rockdale and the CBD and Lane Cove where lots of apartment are actually being built we're still seeing the price rise for new leases ," Mr Patterson Ross said.
"That's because these are new dwellings, so they're replacing older, less pricey stock and that brings the average and the median prices up."
While the report has not drilled down into specific suburbs, it states that there were 5,200 units built in the Sydney, Parramatta and Rockdale local government areas in the past year, and new rents went up five per cent in each of those areas.
In the July to September quarter, the median unit rent lodged with the bond board was $525 a week, eclipsing the median $520 a week rent lodged for housing leases.