PHOTO: Apartments in Sydney and Melbourne are sitting empty due to far fewer international students. Photo: Peter Rae
Landlords in Sydney and Melbourne are counting the cost of the international student exodus, losing an estimated $60 million in rental income each month.
Chinese property portal Juwai estimates each city has shed just over $30 million worth of rent a month since thousands of international students rushed home during the onset of the coronavirus crisis.
Figures released last week by Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute revealed there were 30,291 fewer international students in Melbourne in 2020 compared to last year, and 29,815 fewer students in Sydney.
Juwai executive chairman Georg Chmiel said the company’s estimates showed that nationwide around $715 million of property-related income would be stripped from the Australian rental market in 2020 due to the absence of international tenants.
“These are back-of-the-envelope calculations for the purposes of illustrating the challenges that landlords face in the short term,” Mr Chmiel said.
READ MORE VIA DOMAIN
