Room with a poo: the tiny Sydney apartment for rent with a toilet in the kitchen
Australia’s property market has taken a massive hit thanks to coronavirus, with sales values dropping as much as 85% in Melbourne over the past two months, and many tenants breaking their leases because they can no longer afford rent.
But you can bank on Sydney to hold on to its hot housing prices.
A studio apartment in the popular inner-city suburb of Surry Hills listed for $380 per week, with two week’s free rent, quickly gained attention on Twitter thanks to its unique space-saving layout.
The bathroom, featuring a toilet and a shower, is located in the kitchen, separated only by two glass walls.
The glass walls let in the light, and anyone else who may be in the apartment. Only one of the glass walls is partly frosted, meaning that your business becomes everyone else’s business.
Host and guests may need to quickly become very comfortable with each other (that is, if having guests over is still allowed in a few weeks).
But some thought that the layout was too conservative, suggesting the glass should be removed to allow for multitasking in the kitchen.
It isn’t the first time a Sydney studio has featured such creative space-saving measures. A Darlinghurst apartment going for $370 a week in 2014 positioned the toilet inches away from the kitchen sink. Property manager Emma Mattiuzzo of Exclusive Real Estate told Guardian Australia that while the Surry Hills pad had received applications, it was still subject to the impact of coronavirus.
“We have had two applications, both being perfect people for it. But their circumstances change overnight and they have to rethink it,” Mattiuzzo said.
“People are budgeting at the moment. We haven’t been able to do proper opens before this weekend. People aren’t travelling as much interstate, and for studio apartments like this, you usually get short-term rentals for six months or so.”
Mattiuzzo said an apartment like this in Surry Hills would normally go for its original listing price of $420, “but then gyms were forced to close, and then the restaurants”.
“The people that are looking for that type of accommodation are people who work in travel, or hospitality because it is so convenient to where they are working,” she said.