Sydney’s rental crisis is now so bad that a charity is renting tiny micro-units to well-paid professionals on six-figure incomes who struggle to afford a typical apartment.
The Nightingale Marrickville complex, located in the city’s central west, offers weekly rents of $395 to $440 for a studio apartment measuring just 22 to 31 square meters.
The smallest units are less than a tenth the size of an average new Sydney home, with 254 square meters of interior space.
But demand is so high for a micro-unit in the five-level complex that potential tenants must apply via ballot for one of 54 available apartments, with priority given to essential workers, asylum seekers and to “people who work in the arts”.
The rental price for accommodation near Marrickville Station covers water and electricity for the first year and is designed to be 20% cheaper than the equivalent micro-apartment in the private rental market.
The units are also significantly cheaper than ZIP Code 2204’s median weekly unit rent of $691 in a suburb with an ultra-tight rental vacancy rate of 0.8 percent.
The very small apartments are only accessible to people in employment, which differentiates them from traditional public housing intended for people on social assistance.
Sydney’s rental crisis is now so bad that a charity is renting tiny micro-units to well-paid professionals on six-figure incomes who struggle to afford typical accommodation.
The Nightingale Marrickville complex, located in the city’s central west, offers weekly rents of $395 to $440 for a studio apartment measuring just 22 to 31 square meters.
Individuals earning up to $97,000 and couples with a combined income of $126,125 can apply.
Single parents with one child can earn up to $145,500, more than double the average Australian income of $67,600.
Homes are hitting the market as long rental inspection queues snake through Sydney’s inner suburbs every weekend, amid an immigration-fueled rental crisis.
The large number of immigrants means supply is unable to meet demand, with Australia only allowing one new accommodation for every four new migrants.
Now Nightingale Housing, a not-for-profit charity based in Melbourne, has partnered with Fresh Hope Communities, the caring arm of the Churches of Christ in New South Wales, and the ACT, which owns the land.
Under this agreement, churches provide land, allowing a housing provider to offer rent well below market value in a build-to-rent project.
This approach could result in the NSW Government offering land to funders to provide affordable housing.
State Planning Minister Paul Scully said build-to-rent projects offered an alternative to existing deals, in which individual investors, but not businesses or charities, could apply to the Federal Government for negative tax relief in the event of loss of rent.
“We are facing a housing crisis and we want to create opportunities in all areas of the property market,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“Build-to-rent is an important long-term rental option for people in need who cannot afford to purchase a home or choose to rent long-term.
The units are also significantly less expensive than the 2204 ZIP code’s median weekly unit rent of $691 in a suburb with an ultra-tight rental vacancy rate of 0.8 percent.
Now Nightingale Housing, a not-for-profit charity based in Melbourne, has partnered with Fresh Hope Communities, the caring arm of the Churches of Christ in New South Wales, and ACT, which owns the land.
“We need to look at all opportunities for new housing for people who need it, especially young people, essential workers and families.”
Demand is so strong for the 54 micro-apartments at the ‘teilhaus’ complex on Illawarra Road that a ballot closes on Monday afternoon, after less than two weeks.
Applicants must provide salary slips, tax returns and a letter from their employer and must be aged 18 or over, unless in exceptional circumstances.
Priority is given to essential workers like teachers, police officers, paramedics, firefighters, social and charity workers and “people who work in the arts”.
Nightingale Housing also focuses on workers low or insecure earners, single women aged 55 and over, disabled people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and “vulnerable minority groups” such as asylum seekers.
An influx of immigration has made it very difficult for potential renters to find accommodation, with Sydney having a very tight rental vacancy rate of 1.1 per cent.
In Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s home suburb of Marrickville, the situation is even more dire with a rental vacancy rate of just 0.8 per cent and a median weekly rent of $691, according to data from SQM Research.
The smallest units are less than a tenth the size of an average new Sydney home, with 254 square meters of interior space.
Individuals earning up to $97,000 and couples with a combined income of $126,125 can apply.
For an average full-time worker earning $98,218, that would represent 37 percent of their income, which would put a person in rental stress, considering a person is spending more than 30 percent of their salary before housing taxes.
Demand for international students is particularly strong in Sydney’s inner-city areas, with a monthly record of 55,330 migrants, on a net basis, flooding into the country in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed last week .
During this month, 12,850 new residential buildings were approved, meaning only one new dwelling was approved for every four new residents.
A record 518,000 migrants moved to Australia in 2022-23, but that figure has since slowed to a still-high 481,620.