48 Sydney suburbs where buying a house is cheaper than renting – realestate.com.au

Paying off a mortgage is now cheaper than renting in dozens of Sydney suburbs after another rise in rental prices, a new analysis shows.

Finder.com.au data showed there were now 48 suburbs in Greater Sydney where owning a unit was cheaper than renting it every week.

Many of these have been inner-city markets where a wave of students from abroad has created an extreme rental shortage without an equivalent increase in homebuyer demand.

Conditions have been similar in the suburbs near the Parramatta CBD, where an influx of renters – many new migrants or locals fleeing expensive inner areas – has gobbled up available rental properties.

There were a further 17 suburbs in regional NSW where repayments on a mid-priced unit bought with an 80 per cent loan at normal interest rates would be cheaper than market rent.

These suburbs accounted for about 12 per cent of NSW’s unit markets, according to PropTrack’s Finder analysis of average rents and house prices.

A line of hopeful tenants wanting to see an apartment inland. Photo: Adam Yip

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There were no suburbs of Sydney where paying off a house was cheaper than rent.

Inner city hubs Haymarket, Chippendale and Mascot offered buyers the biggest savings, with repaying a standard loan now more than $100 a week cheaper than paying rent.

Unit buyers would be between $50 and $100 a week better off than renters in Granville, Zetland, Eastgardens, Pendle Hill, Harris Park and Merrylands.

Marginal savings for buyers were also identified in Warwick Farm, Guildford, Homebush and both the Parramatta and Sydney CBDs.

The analysis focused only on repayments and did not take into account the additional costs of home ownership such as strata fees, council rates, repairs and insurance – all major costs.

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Experts revealed that the phenomenon of repayments being cheaper than rent was more a result of rental demand than actual property affordability.

Finder head of consumer research Graham Cook said just because refunds are cheaper than rent doesn’t mean buying is within the reach of more people.

“For the majority of suburbs, renting remains the cheaper option,” Cooke said, noting that both rents and house prices have risen above the budget of regular income earners.

“For most young Aussies … the dream of home ownership is being pushed from both sides,” he said.

Mr Cooke said the initial barriers to buying were still brutal.

Finder’s head of consumer research Graham Cooke said the key to getting a house cheaper than rent is to have a 20 per cent deposit.

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“We have reached the point where the cost of access alone, combined with the rising cost of debt, is putting the property ladder largely out of reach for many,” he said.

“Even in the rare cases where the math is reversed, the calculations don’t take into account the deposit you need to save, stamp duty and all the other costs involved in buying a house.”

PropTrack data shows that rents in Greater Sydney have risen by an average of 7.1 per cent over the past year, while in some suburbs rents have risen by 15 to 20 per cent.

Economist Anne Flaherty of the REA group Rents in Sydney were rising more slowly than a few years ago, but were high enough that even modest growth could result in tenants paying substantially more.

“Rents are likely to reach new record highs in 2026,” she said.

Rental properties are sold quickly.

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“Vacancy rates are still quite low. And population growth is still a factor, especially international migration.”

New migrants were more likely to rent in the first few years after arriving in Australia, she added.

“That migration story is driving demand for rental properties,” she said. “At the same time, you get people who are stuck in the rental market for longer than before due to housing costs.”

Mr Cooke said repayments would be significantly higher than rental prices for those accessing low deposit schemes such as the government’s First Home Guarantee Scheme.

The data showed that reducing the deposit from 20 to 5 percent halved the number of suburbs where buying was cheaper than renting.

OUTSIDE OUTSIDE CHEAPER TO OWN THAN RENT

Source: Finder.com.au, assumes a P&O mortgage with a term of 30 years at the current average. loan interest of 5.53%, down payment of 20%