AS a four-year veteran of Orange’s rental market Emily Cahill isn’t surprised to learn the median cost of renting a unit rose 25 per cent in the past 12 months. Figures just released by the Australian Property Monitors (APM) show it cost $250 to rent a unit in Orange in February this year, an increase of $50 on the same time last year.
“The prices just continue to rise every year,” Ms Cahill said. “When you look at it Orange has a lot of miners here and miners are driving prices up.” Ms Cahill said the fact that Orange was also expanding and its infrastructure growing also contributed to on-going rental increases.
Ms Cahill, who rents a two-bedroom unit with friend, said every time she’s faced with a rental increase she’s forced to reassess her ability to pay her rent. “Every time I look at my budget and see if I can afford it,” she said.
The APM figures show the cost of renting a unit in Bathurst rose by 7.7 per cent during the same period, with renters now forced to pay a median weekly rent of $210. Of the large regional cities in the central west renting a unit remained relatively inexpensive in Dubbo with the median cost of renting a unit jumping by 6.1 per cent to $175 a week, just $10 more than it was at the same time last year.
