Rental Shortage Near USYD — 6-Person Apartment Reaches $13,754

Chinese international students who recently arrived in Australia have been speaking to Australian media outlets about their rush back under new policy requirements — and the significant costs involved.

One student described Sydney’s rental market as having reached a frenzied extreme. He and his classmates are paying A$529 per week to share a flat in Ultimo, near the University of Sydney (USYD) and UTS — a flat shared among six international students.

That means six students combined are paying A$3,174 per week — and the monthly rent for a six-bedroom apartment is A$13,754.

The student said: “All six of us are classmates — we chose to live together so we’d have company. The apartment has six rooms, but each one is really tiny.”

Since the start of this week, Broadway near USYD has been filled with international students dragging suitcases. Around 50,000 Chinese students are expected to arrive in Australia within the next few weeks — making the rental market even tighter.

In Redfern, a furnished 25 square metre studio — comparable in size to a small hotel room — is listed at A$729 per week, or A$3,159 per month.

Other students interviewed said that for couples sharing, rent starts at around A$600 per week as a minimum, while most single-room share arrangements cost between A$400 and A$500 per week.

But for international students, rent is just one of the enormous costs of studying in Australia — university tuition alone averages around A$50,000 per year.

Take USYD, one of the most expensive universities — most programmes in the Business School already exceed A$50,000 per year.

One student said: “Each of my subjects costs around A$5,000 to A$6,000. I have eight subjects, so my total annual tuition is about A$50,000.”

An IT student said his tuition has risen to A$53,000 this year — but he still believes it is worth it.

He added: “We are here purely to study hard, so that’s fine.” “We think Australia’s education system is excellent.”

With a large wave of international students returning

Australia’s already tight rental market is getting even more competitive

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Electricity Bills Are Also Rising — NSW to Issue $250 Electricity Rebate in July

It is not just tuition and rent that keep climbing. NSW Labor leader Chris Minns has warned that over the next 12 months, “electricity prices are expected to surge by a further 30%.”

To help ease cost-of-living pressure, the NSW Government will offer a A$250 cash rebate to households that check whether their energy provider is offering the most competitive rate — a key pre-election commitment ahead of next month’s state election. Specifically:

Households and individuals who use the Service NSW website to check whether their energy provider’s rates are competitive will receive a one-off payment of A$250, which can be applied directly to their electricity bill.

This incentive scheme will run from July this year through to the end of December.

The specific redemption process and channels have not yet been announced — we will keep a close eye on updates and share them with our readers as soon as they are available.

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