The tide is changing in New South Wales’ rental market as vacancies start to drop across the major metropolitan areas of Sydney, Newcastle, and Wollongong.

Figures from the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) showed that the vacancy rate fell to 2.5% in Sydney, 1.8% in Newcastle, and 0.4% in Wollongong.

In Sydney, both the inner and outer-ring regions witnessed fewer rental homes available, with their respective vacancy rates falling to 2.4% and 1.5%.

Sydney’s middle-ring region, on the other hand, reported a stable vacancy rate at 2.9%.

REINSW CEO Tim McKibbin said this is good news for the rental market, which would encourage more investors to reconsider Sydney as a place of investment.

“Sydneysiders – and indeed people across New South Wales – are coming out of hibernation,” he said.

“While there has been an exodus from metropolitan areas in recent months, it looks like the tide is starting to turn.”

Meanwhile, vacancy levels across regional New South Wales remained low, with some posting marginal increases.

For instance, vacancy rates in the Mid-North Coast, Murrumbidgee, Orana, Riverina, South Coast and South Eastern areas all experienced a slight uptick in January.

On the other hand, Coffs Harbour, New England and Northern Rivers areas saw fewer properties available for rents over the month.

“As we would expect, the pre-Christmas market lull is reversing, as people make decisions about their work and living plans for the coming year,” Mr McKibbin said.

“This all bodes well for the residential rental market going forward.”

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