Source: Australian Property Journal
With little availability in the nation's rental market, rents are being placed under upwards pressure rising for another month.
According to SQM Research, the national rental vacancy rate is still tight, sitting at 1.7% over July, while the national combined weekly rent is up 1.3% to $508 a week, a yearly increase of 13.7%.
In Melbourne the vacancy rate was up from 3.5% in June to 3.6%, while in Sydney it fell from 2.8% to 2.7%. While in Melbourne's CBD the rate fell for another month, to 5.7% and in Sydney's CBD it rose to 6.1%.The vacancy rate was below 1.0% in Adelaide, Darwin and Hobart, at 0.7%, 0.6% and 0.5% respectively. In Perth, Brisbane and Canberra the rate remained stable at 0.9%, 1.3% and 0.7% respectively.
"Current tight rental vacancy rates are driving up rents across Australia. It is somewhat perplexing to see both regional Australia and the Capital cities record surges," said Louis Christopher, managing director of SQM Research.
Nationally, asking rents for house rose by 1.3% to $526 per week, while units rose by 0.5% to $420 per week, with this being driven largely by regional increases.
Though capital city rents also rose for houses by 0.5% over the month and 8% over the year, while they sat stable for units and rose by 0.7% for houses.
"Given the ongoing international border closures and still relatively high completions, the national rental market should be at least more balanced. That may well still happen if lockdowns persist through to Summer as it is likely many people living in Sydney and Melbourne may attempt to move elsewhere," said Christopher.
In Sydney, house rents grew by 1.4% for the month and 10.2% for the year to $697.8 per week. While units rose by 0.3% for the month and 0.1% for the year to $464.8 per week.
While in Melbourne, house rents grew by 0.5% for the month and fell by 0.4% for the year to $520.1 per week. With units rising by 0.8% for the month and falling by 6.5% for the year.
Melbourne was the only capital to record yearly falls in either houses and units.
In Brisbane, house rents were stable for the month and grew by 11.2% for the year to $516.6 per week. While units rose by 1.0% for the month and 4.3% for the year to $394.5 per week.
While in Canberra, house rents grew by 0.8% for the month and by 13.7% for the year to $724.6 per week. With units rising by 3.9% for the month and by 9.0% for the year.
"It is also possible that long term leasing is becoming very challenging for landlords due to rental moratoriums etc. We believe instead that landlords may increasingly be using short term accommodation websites such as Airbnb and Stayz whereby they have a greater say on who occupies their property and the length of time they stay," concluded Christopher.
