Sydney renter hit by 35% hike as housing crisis sparks calls to cap increases

Millie Bannister was already anxious about how much the rental market had skyrocketed in Sydney when she received a letter from her landlord saying they wanted to increase her rent by 35%.

The 26-year-old heads up the mental health charity Allknd, and says the rent increase will change her life and her aspirations, amid calls for the state government to consider regulating rent caps.

There is a a surging rental crisis in Sydney, where renters have faced an 11% increase in the past year, according to data from CoreLogic.

And with vacancy rates across the country averaging just 1.2% across all capital cities, it has left many extremely anxious about the prospect of trying to find appropriate housing.

A similar system has been implemented in different OECD countries around the world, including in Norway and Turkey, where regulated rents apply across the entire rental sector.

In the Netherlands, rent control is applied to dwellings listed below a specific rental price and in Germany regulations apply to rental dwellings in areas where there is pressure on the housing market, where rent is capped at 10% above the average rate for the area.

Dr Chris Martin, the senior research fellow at the University of NSW City Futures Research Centre, said while demand and supply had often been repeated as reasons for the skyrocketing rent, there was often a simpler explanation: landlords were choosing to increase rent.