Hopeful tenants looking to rent a house in Wollongong may have to dig a little deeper to put a roof over their heads.
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Asking prices for Wollongong rentals have risen more than 6 per cent in the last quarter alone, an increase 10 times the national median for the same period, according to the latest Domain Group Rental Report.
In the three months to December, the average asking rent for houses in the Wollongong local government area was $450, a leap of 6.1 per cent on the previous quarter.
Domain Group senior economist Dr Andrew Wilson said the increase was bad news for tenants, and even worse for those renting while trying to save for their own home.
‘‘Rental and price markets tend to track each other and Wollongong’s been going quite well over the past year so a little bit of that same energy with increased demand is pushing prices up,’’ he said.
In contrast, median rent for Wollongong units fell slightly over the December quarter to $330, but rose overall in 2014 by 2.5 per cent.
‘‘There’s been a fair bit of building of new units in Wollongong recently so that’s probably a decent result,’’ Dr Wilson said.
‘‘I would have thought maybe that weakening over the quarter reflects more supply coming through of Wollongong units, particularly closer to the city centre.
Median rent for Shellharbour homes dropped 2.4 per cent to $400 over the December quarter, while units dropped 5.8 per cent to $325.
Over the same period, house rental prices for Kiama remained steady at $450, while unit rents dropped by 5.7 per cent to $370.
Both rose overall for 2014 - house rents by 1.8 per cent and units by 7.2 per cent.
‘‘Kiama still looks quite strong, there looks to be good demand there for rental properties which is pushing up rents,’’ Dr Wilson said.
‘‘But certainly there is less demand, lower rents and rents weakening in Shellharbour.’’
Nationally, the median weekly asking rent for units increased by 0.1 per cent over the December quarter to be up by 1.5 per cent over the last 12 months.
Meanwhile, the median weekly asking rents for houses increased by 0.6 per cent over the quarter, contributing to an annual growth rate of 0.1 per cent.