In news that will shock absolutely no one in the greater Sydney region, our fair city has been officially named the second worst market in the world when it comes to housing affordability. The silver medal that I think we would all rather go without.
Off the back of this truly depressing news, one Sydneysider took to Reddit to seek out clarification, asking: "If people don't mind sharing, what do you pay for rent in Sydney and what percent does it equate to your monthly income?"
Hundreds of Aussies came forth with total honesty in their answers β sharing exactly what they pay across the Sydney region.
You can check out all the answers and compare your suburb here.Β
1. "Last year, I was paying $215 per week for a room in a share house in Jannali, my wage was between $500 and $1,000 per week."
βu/WaXmAn24
2. "I pay $430 per week for a two bedroom in Meadowbank. It's just under 50% of my income. It's expensive, but I love it here."
βu/Help_Me_Work
3. "I was paying $420 a week in Sutherland near the CBD for a two bedroom, first floor apartment. Roughly 25% of my income."
βu/blissiictrl
4. "I pay $330 a week for a studio in Surry Hills near Taylor Square. Way too much if you ask me. Plus, I am currently taking my landlord to the tribunal for taking over a month to install a working smoke alarm."
βu/fiestydrunk
5. "I paid $270 per week for a shoebox by Taylor Square a few years back, then they wanted to up the price to $330 per week and I told them to get fucked and left."
"It was horrendous, I had constant problems with roaches coming in through every crack (and there were lots of those) or up the drains; bombs, border sprays and traps did nothing, neither did the landlord. Windows were 'original features', so you could hear every word said down at Taylor Square, which meant no sleeping until at least 3am. But you could pass the time until then listening to the neighbours through the paper-thin walls.
I ended up sharing after that, it was a better proposition for the price (found a nice guy on Goulburn Street, so didn't even need to move that far)."
βu/Murrian
6. "In 2019, I was paying $700 per week for a one bedroom unit in Rushcutters Bay and that was about 40% of my income. At that point, I said stuff it and took out a mortgage for the same monthly cost as rent and haven't regretted it once, even though the place I live in isn't as nice. Highly recommend if you can scrape a deposit together, even 5%, to purchase instead of rent."
βu/WagsPup
7. "Just reading that everyone else is around or below the 30% rule. It isn't a well known/standard rule, I had no idea of it. I just calculated I was paying 42% of my income at the $700 per week place I was renting β was that financially irresponsible?"
βu/WagsPup
8. "I pay $400 per week for a two bedder in Maroubra, which is 25% of my income."
βu/Scruffyboy27
9. "I now own a home in Windsor (Hawkesbury River), so I pay $530 per week for my mortgage. I rent out to my boyfriend and two housemates (it's a four bedroom house with a spare bed/study) and charge them $200 per week, per person, for a room including all bills."
"I earn around $2,100 per fortnight. My boyfriend earns $800 per week. I also have a two bedroom granny flat at the back. I charge the tenants (a couple) $380 per week."
βu/KittyKatWombat
10. "I'm paying $650 per week for a three bed, three bath house in Ashfield. No parking space, but a decent sized yard for my doggo. Pretty good chance our rent will increase when the lease comes up though. Split with my partner, it's about 25% of my income."
βu/Sarah1608
11. "About 30% goes to my mortgage payments, but another 30% goes directly into savings to pay the mortgage quicker. This is joint between my wife and I."
βu/effective_shill
12. "$290 per week for a two bed apartment in North Parramatta, while our house is getting built. Apartment has aircon and is close to all the restaurants, so thatβs nice. Only downside is my car doesnβt fit in the little garage. Rent is a little under 20% of my income."
"Moved in May 2021, in peak COVID-19 and all were around that price and had been sitting vacant for months. Parramatta had like 200+ vacant apartments and they were offering months' free rent to move in and everything. Crazy times. Havenβt looked at the prices lately, but I canβt recommend Parramatta enough."
βu/kingrooted
13. "$800 per week for a three bedroom in Marrickville. Place is so small, I knock drinks over with my elbows and can barely fit in the shower cubicle (I'm a man over six feet tall). I hate it here."
βu/Useless_Prick
14. "I'm renting a recently-built, four bedroom house in Penrith, sharing with four other people. Total rent is $560 per week, so we each pay $135 and pay bills using that money as well. My share is about 20% of my usual income, housemates would be roughly the same."
βu/izzpage
15. "Randwick, two bedroom, on-street parking, no storage, $495, about 22% of my after-tax income. I'm actually getting ready to move to Ryde to save money, because I'm rebuilding my savings after pandemic unemployment."
"Places in Ryde may be getting more expensive than they were, but they're still a good value for a decent area. By moving my external storage into the garage and reducing my weekly rent payment, I can save money over my current rent outgoings.
I'm not fussed about a 'nice' place. I specifically want an older, larger unit in a smaller walk-up block, whose amenities are defined as: Single lock-up garage, ideally separate shower, balcony, no gas (it's hard on my asthma). In the best of all worlds, there would be a split system aircon somewhere in the unit, fly-screens on the windows, a view of something other than the building next door's wall, and good internal storage space, but I'm willing to compromise on those features to get large-ish rooms and for cheap-ish rent."
βu/ocean_sunrise
16. "I pay about $3,300 a month split with my girlfriend and we live in Chippendale. Ends up [being] about 25% of my income which isnβt bad considering we can walk to everything, including jobs in the city."
βu/Dgal6560
17. "$325 per week studio in Darlinghurst, earning $1,450 per week. That's a little bit over 20%."
βu/vld-s
18. "$550 split 50/50 with my partner ($275 each). I'm on $1,500 per week and she's on $1,300 (both after tax)."
"We were paying $760 ($380 each), but are sick of renting β tenancy laws are dog shit β so moved to a cheaper area to save hard and get our deposit up as high as we can while we work out where/what we want to buy."
βu/MyLapTopOverheats
19. "$690 per week, for a two bedroom flat in Bondi. Rent going up to $740 in two months, so looking for a new place."
βu/agoatwithopinion
20. "$420 a week for a three bed apartment in Sutherland. I share with someone else so that makes it affordable...just. I'm unemployed. If I didn't have someone to share with I'd be fucked. It's about 50% of my income."
βu/TheDevilsAdvokaat
21. "I pay $395 a week for a one bedroom apartment with a car space in Neutral Bay. About 40% of take home pay."
βu/ngairem
22. "$480 per week for one bed in Wolli Creek. Rent out the car space ($40 weekly). Divided with my partner, it equates to 16% of my take home income."
βu/LikeKnope
23. "We pay $541 a week for our two bedroom apartment mortgage, just under 30% of our combined income. Strata fees take up a considerable amount of our bill budget though. We bought last year in Sutherland."
βu/Crazy-Ingenuity-1717
24. And finally: "$250 a week in a share house. That's $1,000 a month, which means I'm spending 33.33% of my monthly income on rent. Capitalism sucks."
βu/GenericInterwebs
How do these prices compare to the rent that you pay? If you're comfortable sharing, let us know your circumstances in the comments below!
Reddit responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.Β