PHOTO: Real estate agent Brooke El Hakim (pictured) has been caught out boasting about how much she’s convinced landlords to hike rents amidst the country’s housing crisis
A real estate agent is facing criticism for proudly sharing her success in persuading landlords to raise rents amid a housing availability crisis in the country.
Brooke El Hakim, a licensed real estate agent affiliated with LJ Hooker Bankstown, frequently posts photos and videos of properties available in Sydney’s south-west on her Instagram account.
In two videos, Ms. El Hakim informs her followers that landlords of two different properties increased their rents after collaborating with her to maximize their profits. One video features the agent and a colleague standing outside a townhouse in Punchbowl, which was leased for $600 per week, $100 more than the original rental price the landlord had in mind.
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“We just leased this two-bedroom townhouse for $600 per week,” Ms. El Hakim announced in the video. “The owner initially wanted $500 a week, so this is fantastic.”
In the post’s caption, she wrote, “One of my long-term clients asked me to relet his townhouse and suggested he would be satisfied with $500 per week. My response was, ‘I believe we can achieve $600 per week, which you would be thrilled with.’ He was pleasantly surprised by this rate.”
In the second video, the real estate agent records herself outside a home in Georges Hall, recently leased with a weekly increase of $150.
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“Don’t we all love seeing a lease sticker?” she remarked. “(The property) has been recently leased for $950 per week. Before I took this property on, the owner was receiving just under $800 per week in rent. If you’re looking to maximize your rental return, please contact me.”
Ms. El Hakim faced heavy criticism for seeming to boast about increasing the financial burden on tenants.
“Imagine bragging about raising rental prices,” one individual wrote. “So we can rely on you to make the rental crisis worse?” commented another. A third person remarked, “So, in other words, you are now making it harder for the ‘average’ person to rent and find shelter! Great job!”
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Another person added, “Disgusting. I’m a landlord myself and wouldn’t dream of being this greedy.”
However, some argued that Ms. El Hakim was simply fulfilling her job by maximizing returns for landlords and swiftly securing new tenants.
“I don’t understand why she’s being attacked. She’s doing her job,” said one user. “Is it the landlord’s fault they have a mortgage to pay, and the agent is helping them?” Another viewer commented, “How can you just attack someone who is working?”
These videos from the real estate agent come at a time when everyday Australians are grappling with rising rent prices due to mounting cost-of-living pressures.
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In the year up to May, house and unit rents increased by at least 10 percent in 1,700 of the 3,812 markets analyzed by CoreLogic. However, in certain areas of Sydney, rents surged by over 30 percent, driven by an influx of international students in Australia’s most expensive rental market.
Sydney had nine of the top ten suburbs in Australia for rental increases, while Melbourne had one entry. Rental increases of more than 20 percent were observed in parts of Brisbane, with double-digit increases also seen in Perth and Adelaide.
Ms El Hakim was heavily criticised for appearing to brag about how she’s made tenants fork out more money
Others defended the estate agent for doing her job – seeking a maximum return for clients on their investment
CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy noted that tenants living in units faced the most significant cost increases, with Sydney having a vacancy rate of just 1.3 percent, while Melbourne and Brisbane had even tighter rates at 0.8 percent.
“When you break that figure down further by property type, we can see the unit sector is under the greatest pressure, with rents increasing at a faster rate than houses due to their relative affordability,” she said.
SOURCE: THE DAILY MAIL
https://propertynoise.co.nz/au/sydney-real-estate-agents-spiral/