Sydney‘s rental crisis has been thrown into the spotlight again after dozens of prospective tenants queued in a massive line to view a modest $500-a-week apartment.
Hopeful renters waited patiently outside the apartment complex on George Street at Leichhardt, in Sydney’s Inner West, on Saturday to view the one-bedroom dwelling.
The listing boasts an ‘ultra-modern apartment that is enticing with its look, style and location’.
The open home drew a swarm of would-be tenants despite it being just 33sqm with one bedroom, one bathroom and no parking space.
In a picture shared to Reddit, more than 35 people could be seen waiting outside the building in a line which then fell out of view as it snaked around a corner as more and more candidates arrived.
Social media users speculated the real estate agents used the low weekly rent as bait, with many applicants likely to offer much more than that to secure the lease.
‘Let me guess, s**thead REAs advertising it for a super low price so they can get contact details to spam for the next two years while wasting everyone’s time,’ one person wrote.
‘Offering impossibly cheap rent which will never happen, attract a lot of interest and have a bidding war with the deepest pocketed people in this queue who end up paying what the agent really wanted in the first place,’ a second person commented.
The picture was shared to Reddit and showed dozens of prospective renters waiting in a long queue to view the apartment
The one-bedroom unit, located in a block of apartments on George Street in Leichhardt, in Sydney’s inner west, was listed for $500 a week
A third chimed: ‘Realtors do this in purpose. They list the rental for way under market value which facilitates a bidding war so that the rental gets over market value’.
A fourth person who lives on the same block confirmed the unit was ‘outrageously underpriced’.
The median rental price for a one-bedroom apartment in Leichhardt between March 2024 and February 2025 was $550 a week, according data from realestate.com.
The data showed weekly rental asking prices had increased by 4.8 per cent in the past 12 months.
Australia’s rental crisis also showed no signs of easing, with the vacancy rate declining to one per cent in January, according to SQM Research.
The total number of rental vacancies fell sharply to 31,822 – a significant drop from December’s 47,336 figures.
Sydney’s rental vacancy rate dropped back to 1.4 per cent, while Melbourne also recorded a sharp decline, with its vacancy rate dropping to 1.5 per cent
Brisbane recorded a rental vacancy rate of just 0.8 per cent – the second lowest rental vacancy rate ever recorded for the city since SQM records began in 2005.
Despite only spanning 33sqm and having one bathroom and no car space, the listing received overwhelming interest from renters
Meanwhile, Canberra’s vacancy rate dropped to 1.3 per cent, while Perth and Adelaide remained stable at an alarmingly low 0.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.
Darwin also saw drop in its vacancy rate to 1.1 per cent, while Hobart recorded its equal lowest rental vacancy rate ever recorded with just 0.3 per cent.
Managing Director of SQM Research Louis Christopher explained the sharp decrease in rental vacancies was a strong indication the rental market crisis was not over.
Mr Christopher added Australia’s rental market had the potential of deteriorating even further in the coming months.
‘From a tenant’s perspective, the sharp drop in rental vacancies at the start of 2025 is highly disappointing, especially since there were some glimpses of a moderating rental market in the latter half of 2024,’ Mr Christopher said.
‘Is this a one-off abnormality? Unfortunately, I don’t think it is as our records of February listings to date are lower than what was recorded in January.’
Mr Christopher pointed to ‘ongoing under-building’ and the ‘real time, present level of overseas arrivals’ as the main causes of the nation’s housing crisis.
‘Over and above this our concern what is not known… We don’t know for sure but clearly something has driven this retreat in rental vacancies,’ Mr Christopher said.
