It’s a question as old as either city: is Melbourne or Sydney the more expensive to rent in?
Certainly Sydney has the reputation as the more soulless city. It has earned itself the distinction of being considered a kind of cosmopolitan, contemporary rat’s nest – there’s a reason it gets called ‘the bad city’ across Australian twitter.
But is it as expensive to rent in as it is occasionally depressing to live in?
The short answer…
Unfortunately for us sad Sydneysiders, the short answer is yes. According to a recent report, rental prices in Sydney are a whopping 46.19% more expensive than in Melbourne.
Watch a video comparing Sydney and Melbourne here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9qEnt0qyzU
So yep, you’re not just imagining things: there’s a reason that there’s been a mass exodus away from Sydney and into Melbourne as of late, with all of your cool mates packing up their things and heading stateside.
Damn. Is there a bright side to look on?
You might be hoping there’s some kind of silver lining to that particular cloud. Maybe, you might want to suggest, salaries are higher in Sydney, thus meaning things aren’t quite as dire as they look.
The average per month salary in Sydney is only about a thousand dollars higher than in Melbourne.
Well, unfortunately, though salaries are higher in Sydney, they’re not much higher – certainly not enough to soothe the pain of the massive disparity between Sydney and Melbourne rental prices.
Indeed, the average per month salary in Sydney is only about a thousand dollars higher than in Melbourne. And when you consider the fact that almost everything is pricier in Sydney – from the cost of groceries to the cost of eating out – you realise that doesn’t happen to mean much at all.
So now what?
Well, you could wait for the famous property collapse that’s been promised for decades now. But chances are, you’ll be waiting some time, and even then, it’s not clear that a collapse will make renting more affordable anyway.
Sorry folks. Hey, on the plus side, at least climate change is set to decimate the planet’s resources in a generation!
