SYDNEY, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- An influx of 5,200 new apartments in Sydney has driven up the median price of rent in the city's already high property market, according to the latest report by the New South Wales tenants' Union.
The report, analyzing rental bonds over the previous 12 month period before September 2016, shows the cost of new leases rose 4 percent .
"Where lots of apartment are being built, we're still seeing the price rise for new leases," the union's advocacy officer Leo Patterson Ross told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"That's because these are new dwellings, so they're replacing older, less pricey stock and that brings the average and the median prices up."
Australia's Shadow Treasurer Ryan Park has criticized the government for their single-minded focus on boosting supply in order to ease the pressure on renters.
"We've been saying for a long time supply is part of the equation but so is taxation, so is incentives," he said.
Newly appointed New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has stated that improving housing affordability is one of her main priorities.
