The balcony-bounding Spiderman has been scaling apartment buildings, entering through unlocked sliding doors and pilfering belongings from rooms in which residents have been asleep.

The thief then makes his exit through an apartment's front door and flees the building via the fire escape.

Security footage from one of the buildings shows the athletic burglar making his escape wearing a pair of shoes he had stolen from a victim, suggesting he may have made the risky climb in bare feet.

In the video, which can be seen on The Sunday Telegraph website, the man spots a security camera, ducks behind a wall, then leaps on to a handrail to grab a drop sheet left by a plumber.

He then drapes the sheet over his head and runs past the camera.

The thief is believed to have raided at least three buildings in recent weeks.

Police have confirmed some of the balcony break-ins occurred 30 floors up, meaning the spry thief is climbing around, apparently without ropes, as high as 90m off the ground.

One officer described the burglaries as "death-defying".

The manager of one building that had four apartments burgled in a single night said the robberies had left residents terrified. "In three of the four cases, people were at home and in bed asleep while he was in their apartments," the manager, who did not wish to be identified, said.

"It's really scared a lot of people in the building.

"I'm a rock-climber myself and I would never attempt what he's doing, climbing without ropes, because he only gets one chance.

"It's like base jumping – one slip and he's gone.

"But it's do-able – if you were a skilled free-climber, there are enough hand holds and grabs – but it would require a lot of upper-body strength. He must be a phenomenal climber."

The manager said it was clear the cat burglar had climbed to the very top of the building first before "going shopping" – dropping down to different balconies to see whether the doors were locked or lights were on.

"Once he'd done the climb to the top, it would be quite easy to lower yourself down, floor by floor," he said.

"Some people couldn't believe he'd climbed in and thought he must have had a key, but we found articles on the balconies that he'd dropped as he climbed down.

"He took two notebook computers from one apartment and put them in a bag.

"With that extra weight, he chose to go out through the fire escape, which is how we caught him on camera."

City Central police acting duty officer Paul Dunstan said detectives were investigating.

"It's a very risky business, what he's doing, and while this sort of thing happens a lot in summer, on shorter buildings, we haven't seen it in buildings this tall," he said.