This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
RENTAL vacancy rates have remained steady over the month of February despite still sitting in a precarious position overall.
Through February 2023 they held at the 1.0% mark with just one capital city recording a fall in rental vacancies. However this is down from the national rental vacancy rates of February 2022 which were 1.4%.
Melbourne dropped to 1.1% while Canberra, Darwin and Hobart all recorded rises of 1.8%, 1.4% and 0.9%, respectively.
Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide all stayed put at 1.3%, 0.8% and 0.5% respectively, while Perth remained the tightest with rates of just 0.4%.
The vacancy rates’ February performance, while still at a concerningly low level, is a promising sign with SQM Research’s managing director Louis Christopher admitting the results surprised him.
“I was expecting a decline in rental vacancy rates over February. However, the result came in steady and indeed we recorded sharp rises for some regions. Further, I think we now have hard evidence that the rental crisis is now easing in Canberra, Darwin and Hobart. It isn’t just February we have recorded rises in these cities; they are also up compared to this time in 2022.”
“Could we be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel for our national rental crisis? Perhaps for some cities and regions, yes. However, we still remain very concerned for the situation in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane we most international arrivals first land.”
| Vacancy Rates – February 2023 | ||||||
| City | Feb 2022 Vacancies |
Feb 2022 Vacancy Rate |
Jan 2023 Vacancies |
Jan 2023 Vacancy Rate |
Feb 2023 Vacancies |
Feb 2023 Vacancy Rate |
| Sydney | 15,145 | 2.1% | 9,386 | 1.3% | 9,301 | 1.3% |
| Melbourne | 14,777 | 2.8% | 6,447 | 1.2% | 5,545 | 1.1% |
| Brisbane | 3,328 | 1.0% | 2,845 | 0.8% | 2,802 | 0.8% |
| Perth | 1,390 | 0.7% | 753 | 0.4% | 839 | 0.4% |
| Adelaide | 776 | 0.5% | 773 | 0.5% | 821 | 0.5% |
| Canberra | 378 | 0.6% | 978 | 1.6% | 1,069 | 1.8% |
| Darwin | 234 | 0.9% | 353 | 1.3% | 378 | 1.4% |
| Hobart | 99 | 0.4% | 195 | 0.7% | 237 | 0.9% |
| National | 43,844 | 1.4% | 31,592 | 1.0% | 32,040 | 1.0% |
Vacancy rates are up in Canberra (+1.2%), Darwin (+0.5%) and Hobart (+0.5%) in February 2022 figures. Adelaide’s Feb 23 rate of 0.5% is unchanged from the corresponding period.
The CBDs of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane all decreased sharply to 2.6%, 2.2% and 1.2% over the past month, likely as a result of demand from international students.
Regional rental vacancy rates recorded rises after falls in January. Blue Mountains, NSW (1.9%), Mornington Peninsula, VIC (1.4%) and the Gold Coast (1.0%) all increased sharply in February.
