This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE national vacancy rate has held at its lowest point on record over February, at 0.8%, as available rental listings also hit record low numbers.
According to Domain’s February Rental Vacancy Rate Report, national vacant rental listings were at 18,970, falling 9.4% for the month and 33% annually, with the combination of record low supply and increased demand leaving all markets well and truly in favour of landlords.
By capital city, vacancy rates either held steady or declined over February, with the exception of Hobart.
Driven by a surge in rental listings, Hobart was the only capital to see an increase over the month, up 0.1% to 0.6%, for the second consecutive month.
Hobart’s listings were up 18.7% over the month to 146, a 147.5% bump from February 2022.
Sydney’s vacancy rate is now almost half where it was in the same month last year, falling from 1.0% last month and 1.6% last year to a record 0.9%.
With 5,458 available listings, Sydney saw a 11% decline from last month and was down 42.9% from last year.
Melbourne returned to its pre-pandemic state, seeing a tighter rental market than Sydney. With the city’s rate falling from 1.0% to a new low of 0.8% over the month, nearly three times lower than February 2022’s 2.3%.
Listings were at 3,820, a 20.9% decline from January, or down 63.8% annually.
Brisbane fell back to a record low of 0.6%, last seen in October 2022, down from 0.8% in January and in February last year.
With listings at 1,611, Brisbane saw a 14.5% decline in volume from January, and a 21.6% decline from the same month last year.
Both Perth and Adelaide remained steady, at the lowest rate of all the capitals, 0.3%. Adelaide was also steady from the same time last year, while Perth was down from 0.5%.
With 611 available listings, Perth saw a 3.0% decline over the month and 33.2% annually, while Adelaide was down 6.6% for the month and 4.0% for the year.
Finally, Canberra’s rate was stable in February, but high historically. At 1.5%, the vacancy rate in the nation’s capital is only 0.3% off its record high in 2019.
At 602 available listings, Canberra saw a 3.6% jump in volume over the month, for the largest increase annually, up 171.2%.
