Data reveals capital city vacancy rates, house rents hold steady

Half of the capital cities saw their vacancy rates shrink by 0.1 of a percentage point, with the tightest being Hobart at 0.4 of a percentage point, followed by Canberra at 0.6 of a percentage point, Adelaide at 1.1 per cent and Perth at 3.6 per cent.

The situation in Hobart has Louis Christopher, managing director of SQM Research, describing Hobart as experiencing an “extreme shortage” of rental properties.

He said there were just above 100 vacant properties available to rent.

Meanwhile, Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin all rose by 0.1 of a per centage point, with the tightest being Melbourne at 1.7 per cent, Brisbane at 2.9 per cent and Darwin at 3.6 per cent.

Sydney’s vacancy rate remained steady at 2.8 per cent, which SQM Research claims is its highest level in 13 years.

Asking rents remain mostly steady

In a similar position to the vacancy rate, the capital city average asking rent for houses remained steady over September at $552 a week, but unit rents declined by 0.7 of a percentage point to $437 a week.

The major growth standouts for rents were Adelaide and Perth, which saw both asking rents for houses and units rise.

Adelaide’s asking rent rose by 0.5 of a percentage point for houses to $387.10 a week and by 0.3 of a percentage point for units to $298.80 a week.

Perth meanwhile saw a more subdued rise of 0.3 of a percentage point for houses to $424.40 a week and by 0.1 of a percentage point for units at $321.40 a week.

On the flipside, the capital cities that saw asking rents for both houses and units decline were Melbourne, which saw declines of 0.5 of a percentage point and 0.7 of a percentage point to $524.20 a week and $406.20 a week respectively, and Darwin, which saw declines of 2 per cent to 505.10 a week and 397.70 a week respectively.