Rental vacancies decline, capital cities remain steady

THE rental vacancy rate fell by a marginal 0.04% over August, remaining at a strained level after drops across Australia’s regional markets.

According to the latest figures from PropTrack, the national rental vacancy rate was at 1.39% in August, reflecting an annual gain of 0.22%.

“Though capital city vacancy was steady overall, there were significant differences by state, with Melbourne and Brisbane recording a rise, while Perth, Hobart, Darwin and the ACT all recorded declines of 0.10ppt or more,” said Anne Flaherty, senior economist at PropTrack.

“While vacancy rates were down in most capital cities over the month, they remain higher compared to 12 months ago in every market bar Darwin and Hobart. Despite this, conditions remain extremely challenging for renters, with vacancy at sub-2% levels in every market.”

In July, Domain wagered that the rental market may have reached a turning point, as rental rate growth slowed and in some areas actually recorded declines.

Sydney also saw a monthly decline of 0.04% in August, reaching 1.64%, this was also up 0.22% compared to this time 12 months ago.

Meanwhile, Melbourne and Brisbane alone were the only capital cities to record an increase to the vacancy rate over the month, up 0.08% to 1.65% and 0.02% to 1.19% respectively.

Adelaide’s vacancy rate was down 0.04% to 1.03%, while Perth’s was down 0.13% to 1.14%, Darwin was down 0.11% to 0.93% and the ACT was down 0.10% to 1.9%.

Hobart became the tightest rental market in the country over August, falling 0.24% to 0.87%.

“Regional markets were the primary driver of the drop in vacancy seen over August, with Australia’s combined regional areas shedding 0.10ppt to reach 1.19%. In contrast, vacancy across the combined capital cities held relatively steady over the month, dipping by just 0.01ppt.”

Regional NT saw the greatest declines over the month, falling 0.56% to 1.00%, followed by Regional NSW down 0.13% to 1.24%, Regional Victoria down 0.11% to 1.10%, Regional Queensland down 0.11% to 1.17%, Regional Tasmania down 0.07% to 1.19% and regional WA down 0.02% to 1.29%.

While Regional SA was the only region to see an increase over the month, increasing by 0.07% to 1.20%,