Sydney real estate agent boasts about getting higher rent for landlords in midst of Australia's rental crisis Real estate agent caught bragging about hiking rents Viewers criticised her as the country faces a rental crisis By Jesse Hyland For Daily Mail Australia Published: 02:39 EDT, 15 August 2023 | Updated: 02:50 EDT, 15 August 2023 e-mail 6 shares View comments A real estate agent has been slammed for boasting about how she's convinced landlords to hike rents amid the country's housing availability crisis. Brooke El Hakim, a licensed real estate agent from LJ Hooker Bankstown, regularly posts photos and videos of advertised properties in Sydney 's south-west to her Instagram account. In two videos, Ms El Hakim tells her followers that the landlords for two separate properties increased their rents after working with her to maximise their profits. One video shows the agent and a colleague standing outside a townhouse in Punchbowl that's been leased for $600 - which was $100 more than the price the landlord originally sought. 'We just leased this townhouse, two-bedroom, for $600 per week,' Ms El Hakim said in the clip. 'The owner was wanting $500 a week, so it's fantastic money.' In the caption of the post she wrote: 'One of my long-term clients asked me to relet his townhouse and that he would be happy with $500 per week. 'My response to him was, "I think we can achieve $600 per week, which you would be over the moon with." He was quite shocked about this price.' Real estate agent Brooke El Hakim (pictured) has been caught out boasting about how much she's convinced landlords to hike rents amidst the country's housing crisis In the second clip, the real estate agent records herself outside a home in Georges Hall that has just been leased with an added weekly increase of $150. 'Don't we all love seeing a lease sticker?' she said. '(The property) has been recently leased for $950 per week. Before I took this property on, the owner was receiving just under $800 per week for rent. 'If you're looking to maximise your rental return please contact me.' Ms El Hakim was heavily criticised for appearing to brag about how she's made tenants fork out more money. 'Imagine bragging about raising rental prices,' one wrote. 'So we can rely on you to make the rental crisis worse?' said a viewer. A third commented: 'So In other words you are now making it harder for the 'average' man or woman to rent and or get a roof over their heads!!! Yeah really Good work!' 'Disgusting,' added another. 'I'm a landlord myself and wouldn't dream of being this greedy.' But others argued that Ms El Hakim was simply doing her job by maximising returns for landlords and signing up new tenants quickly. 'I don't understand why she's been attacked. She doing her job,' said one user. 'Is it the landlord's fault they have a mortgage to pay and the agent is helping them?' Ms El Hakim was heavily criticised for appearing to brag about how she's made tenants fork out more money Others defended the estate agent for doing her job - seeking a maximum return for clients on their investment Another viewer commented: 'How can you just attack someone that is working?' Daily Mail Australia contacted LJ Hooker Bankstown and Ms Hakim for comment. The real estate agent's videos come as everyday Australians struggle with rising rent prices as cost-of-living pressures mount. In the year to May, house and unit rents went up by at least 10 per cent in 1,700 of the 3,812 markets CoreLogic analysed. But in pockets of Sydney, rents have climbed by more than 30 per cent, as an influx of international students drive up prices in Australia's most expensive rental market. Sydney was home to nine of Australia's top 10 suburbs for rental increases, with Melbourne having one entry. Rental increases of more than 20 per cent were recorded in parts of Brisbane, with double-digit increases also occurring in Perth and Adelaide. CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy said tenants living in units were facing the biggest cost increases, with Sydney having a vacancy rate of just 1.3 per cent while in Melbourne and Brisbane, it's even tighter at 0.8 per cent. 'When you break that figure down further by property type, we can see the unit sector is under the greatest pressure, with rents increasing at a faster rate than houses due to their relative affordability,' she said. Share or comment on this article: Sydney real estate agent boasts about getting higher rent for landlords in midst of Australia's rental crisis e-mail 6 shares Add comment Comments 0 Share what you think No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. 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