Rent Bidding in NSW Insights Report
This report provides information and insights on the current and historical trends of rent bidding in the NSW rental market. It includes the impact of government action to prevent solicited rent bidding, first introduced in December 2022.
Summary of insights
99%
compliance
with the ban on solicited rent bidding on listing platforms.
This is a result of NSW Government’s regulation and legislative changes, combined with effective regulatory action from NSW Fair Trading.
36%
surge
in underbidding practices in tenancies between March and August 2024.
The surge suggests a broader market cooling.
Top 3
overbidding LGAs
- Randwick
- Waverley
- Canada Bay
Top 3
underbidding LGAs
- Byron
- Woollahra
- Ku-ring-gai
- Historical analysis from 2014-2024 shows voluntary rent bidding peaked during periods of market tightening. From 2015-2020, it occurred in approximately 12 per cent of tenancies. It increased to a height of 22 per cent during peak market pressure (2022-2024).
- The analysis suggests rent bidding is likely a symptom, not a cause of rental price inflation in NSW. The offsetting effects of overbidding and underbidding, combined with the size of price adjustments, indicate these practices are more reflective of market conditions rather than causes of market change.
About the report
This report provides an overview of Fair Trading’s regulatory activities following the change to the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 on solicited rent bidding, as well as analysis on market trends in NSW over a 10-year period.
Fair Trading's regulatory response to rent bidding
The NSW Government has committed to improve renting in NSW.
This includes:
- a significant rental law reform agenda and increased regulatory response to improve standards and confidence in the rental market
- responsibility for preventing and responding to breaches of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 (NSW) and associated laws.
A Message from Trina Jones, NSW Rental Commissioner
NSW Fair Trading is working to deliver fair and safe marketplaces for goods, services, and homes in NSW. A key part of my role is to gather data on renting and identify barriers to increasing rental housing supply and examine the gaps and practices that limit renting rights.
This report presents analysis of regulatory intervention, drawing on extensive rental bond and listing data spanning nearly a decade.
The findings are encouraging: our regulatory measures have effectively eliminated solicited rent bidding through rental listings, with compliance rates now reaching 99 per cent.
Fair Trading will continue to monitor rent bidding and work to strengthen and improve renting in NSW.