Figures
released by SQM Research reveal that the level of residential property rental
vacancies dipped slightly during the month of September, recording at a vacancy
rate of 2.1% and coming to a total of 58,977 vacancies nationwide.
In terms of
the number of vacancies, this month’s figures reveal the third straight monthly
decline on a national level.
Although
September was an abnormal month as far as the property market goes, with a
federal election and the AFL Grand Final interfering to a certain extent on the
sales market, SQM Research does not believe that these events has any direct
effect on the rental market, or are in any way responsible for September’s
decrease in vacancies.
A closer in
depth look at the figures however, reveals that each capital city is telling
its own story where vacancies are concerned. Perth has recorded its first
decline in vacancies for 2013, whilst Canberra’s vacancies are skyrocketing on
a year-on-year basis. Brisbane is gradually creeping up whilst Adelaide stays relatively
steady. Hobart is now recording falls in vacancy rates while Melbourne is still
recording elevated vacancies, however there is no longer an uptrend in rental
listings. Darwin – although still without a doubt, extremely tight, is
beginning to ease slightly where vacancies are concerned. Sydney appears to
have been declining over the past six months.
Louis
Christopher, Managing Director of SQM Research says “Currently there is no one national trend in the rental market; rather
the national market is very much segmented with each city recording completely
different trends and results. However, with a vacancy rate
of 2.1%, it does suggest that the rental market remains mildly in favour of
landlords and would suggest rent increases would be running at close to the
general inflation rate or just above it at this point in time.”
Nationally
asking rents have been flat for the past 12 months, falling by just 0.7% for
houses and rising by 1.5% for units.
SQM’s
calculations of vacancies are based on online rental listings that have been
advertised for three weeks or more compared to the total number of established
rental properties. SQM considers this to be a superior methodology compared to
using a potentially incomplete sample of agency surveys or merely relying on
raw online listings advertised.
Please go to
our methodology page below for more information on how SQM’s vacancies are compiled-
Key Points
·
Nationally,
vacancies dipped slightly, recording a vacancy rate of 2.1% during September
2013, coming to a total of 58,977 nationally.
·
Melbourne
has recorded the highest vacancy rate of the capital cities, revealing a
vacancy rate of 2.7% and a total of 11,764.
·
Darwin
has recorded the tightest vacancy rate of the capital cities, revealing a
vacancy rate of 0.9% and a total of 224 vacancies.
·
Canberra
has recorded the highest yearly increase in vacancies, climbing 1.1 percentage
points to 1.6% since the corresponding period of the previous year (September
2012) and coming to a total of 1,135 vacancies
·
Hobart
was the capital city to record the largest yearly decrease in vacancies,
falling by 0.5 percentage points to 1.8% since the corresponding period of the
previous year (September 2012) and coming to a total of 499 vacancies.
·
Canberra
was the only capital city to record a monthly vacancy rate increase, rising by
0.2 percentage points during September 2013.
·
Sydney
recorded the largest monthly vacancy rate decline of the capital cities, falling
by 0.2 percentage points during September 2013 and coming to a total of 9,225
vacancies.
