![Supplied North Sydney Council pool debacle](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Costs blowout — The North Sydney Council pool debacle is one of the reasons rates are jumping 87 per cent.
Tenants in North Sydney may face a rent hike and some older home owners “feeling the pinch” forced to sell because of an 87 per cent rise in council rates.
A range of experts have “joined the outrage” following North Sydney Council’s decision at a fiery meeting last night to increase rates over two years, largely to fund a cost blowout on redeveloping the heritage-listed North Sydney Olympic Pool.
Most said the council rate hike would affect property investors the most, encouraging some to sell and others to try to make renters pay for it.
“If you’re an investor, this will affect your return, and they may well think screw it, I’ll cut my losses,” says the Real Estate Institute of NSW president Thomas McGlynn.
“Any cost that a landlord bears does eventually get passed on to tenants, which is not a great thing.”
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Residents line up to attend last night’s North Sydney Council meeting to protest the proposed rate rise. Picture: Jonathan Ng
And with more than half of the households in the North Sydney council area renters, he says the council’s decision is “disappointing” amid a housing crisis.
“And for some people on pensions, this definitely will pinch the purse strings, particularly in the current cost of living crisis.”
The CEO of the NSW Tenants Union, Leo Patterson Ross, called on landlords not to pass on the extra costs, saying tenants in North Sydney had already suffered huge rent increases in recent years and further rises were unjustified.
“Over the last year, rents for two bedroom apartments have gone up $400 and since Covid they’ve gone up four grand a year,” Mr Patterson Ross said.
“We’re very concerned about the cost of rent in North Sydney … it’s not clear there’s any justification for these rises, so we should be looking at mechanisms to reduce the cost of rent to let people live there to do their job, for example nurses at the hospital.
Experts warn tenants will ultimately pay for the rate increase.
“We need to make sure rents remain affordable, and we think that this council rate rise is going to make that harder.”
BresicWhitney’s lower north shore specialist Stephen O’Sullivan says he’s already taken calls this morning from worried homeowners.
“A lot of them are pretty unhappy, many of them are cash poor and asset rich,” he said.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the market place, people aren’t sure what to do … there are a lot of pissed off people.”
He believes many will “swallow it” and there won’t be a surge in listings from older people forced to sell, though “every case is different”.
Nigel Mukhi, who has just opened a new McGrath McMahons Point office, says listings are already well up on last year and if there was a flood of property price could drop.
“Since the school holidays ended, even more has come to market,” he said.
“It’s a supply and demand issue — every area is different, for example in Kirribilli there are very few houses, but there are lots of apartments on the market there and elsewhere.
“If there is more supply, that definitely will affect the market and and agents will be fighting over the buyers.”
Former councillor Ian Mutton says the current council has a lack of empathy for people, both older or young people starting out with families. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone
Former councillor Ian Mutton described the decision by current council to increase rates, and particularly blaming the former council, as “outrageous”.
“They’re creating an illusion of a financial crisis, but there hasn’t been for years,” he says.
He said many of the repair works they used to justify the rate increase didn’t need to be paid for in the current accounting period.
He fears that a lot of older home owners will be forced to sell.
“Homeowners that are asset rich but income poor will struggle to make ends meet and it will create pressures that will inevitably lead to people having to sell,” Mr Mutton said.
“The current council has a lack of empathy for people, both older people or young people starting out with families.”
