WA’s top 10-searched rental suburbs revealed

“Overall, the suburbs south of Perth proved most popular with WA tenants, with Mandurah, Rockingham and Baldivis ranking first, second and third respectively for searches. Geraldton and Bunbury in regional WA followed closely, rounding out the top five,” Mr Collins said.

Following this was Joondalup, Scarborough, Kalgoorlie, Ellenbrook and Canning Vale.

Mr Collins said this collection of 10 suburbs was quite varied when considering population.

“While we would expect to see suburbs with larger numbers of properties in areas like Baldivis and Canning Vale return high search volumes, a number of the suburbs on the list that ranked well have fewer than 10,000 people residing in the area,” he said.

“Of course, areas like Mandurah, Geraldton, Bunbury and Kalgoorlie also represent a broader urban area which has likely contributed to their popularity with WA tenants.

Of the 10 suburbs, nine saw declines to properties for rent over the last 12 months, with Mandurah experiencing the largest decline, followed by Canning Vale and Bunbury.

“When there is increased interest in a suburb and fewer rentals available, this leads to stronger competition between tenants. While overall rent prices in Perth have been stable for a while now, there are some pockets that are starting to see prices rise,” Mr Collins said.

“From the list, Baldivis, Geraldton, Scarborough and Canning Vale all experienced increases in median rent over the last year, with their individual rent prices lifting by $10, $5, $18 and $10 respectively.

Leasing times were also improving, with nine out of 10 suburbs seeing improvements, with Bunbury being the exception.

“Canning Vale (39 days) and Joondalup (45 days) had the most notable decline in leasing times, with each experiencing a reduction of 11 days during the year, followed by Baldivis (41 days), Geraldton (57 days) and Scarborough (39 days), which reduced by 10 days each,” Mr Collins said.

“These 10 areas clearly hold a lot of appeal for West Aussie tenants. If you’re an investor looking to buy, I’d recommend speaking to a real estate agent about how these local markets are performing and what investment opportunities are available.”

The top 10 most searched for suburbs for rental properties over the last 12 months, according to the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia, are:

Suburb	Median weekly rent	Average days to lease
1.     Mandurah	$260	52
2.     Rockingham	$300	48
3.     Baldivis	$335	41
4.     Geraldton	$230	57
5.     Bunbury	$320	61
6.     Joondalup	$330	45
7.     Scarborough	$398	39
8.     Kalgoorlie	$320	42
9.     Ellenbrook	$310	49
10.  Canning Vale	$400	39 You need to be a member to post comments. Become a member for free today! Related articles Author Sasha Karen Know more More from this writer: Where to find winners in the WA market How rents have performed for investors so far this year How to save money with a new repayment strategy Popular capital cities on the rise as market softens over June Cash rate call for July 2019 revealed New property sales rebound over May How far can a $500,000 budget get you in Sydney?