Rental availability at a record low across all but two capital cities
The rental market appears to remain a landlord’s one across all capital cities, with rental listings plunging to a new historic low, declining to 48.2% annually.
Sydney reported its fourth consecutive monthly decrease, hitting a record low of 1.0%, rental stock has also dropped across the capitals - tracking 53% lower annually.
Domain’s September rent report for Sydney showed that the median house and unit rents had jumped to record levels of 4.8% over the quarter, further highlighting Sydney’s worsening rental conditions.
Record low vacancy rates were also seen across Melbourne (to 1.1%) and Perth (to 0.3%).
Adelaide continued its reign as the most competitive capital city for tenants, where the vacancy rate fell to a record low of 0.2%.
Hobart’s vacancy rate dropped for the first time since January to 0.3%, while Canberra also saw a decrease in its vacancy rate for the first time since February to 1.0%.
The only cities to record an increase in vacancy rates were Brisbane and Darwin, rising to 0.7% and 0.8% respectively.
Source: Domain
Domain Chief of Research and Economics Dr Nicola Powell said renters have been feeling the pressure with house and unit rents across the country on a record high streak.
"The increasingly competitive rental market is due to a combination of factors including the lack of affordable home ownership, changing household formation and the return of skilled migrants and international students," Dr Powell said.
"The government’s recent budget measures are a great start however there’s really no quick fix to the rental crisis.
"Although the government has committed to building more housing, we need to see further progress and a change in land use and planning rules to allow for more homes to be built in middle ring suburbs.
"If some of these issues are addressed, this will no doubt have a positive impact on easing rental conditions."
Domain’s data also comes off the back of a Market Insight report by PropTrack, which revealed rental listings under $400 per week in capital cities, were down from 36.1% in March 2020 to 16.4% in September 2022.
Is there relief in sight for renters?
New data by Australia's largest independent property group, Property Club, has shown national rents are predicted to surge 480% by 2050, with weekly rents in Sydney expected to increase by 484% to $7,019.
In October, the Albanese Labor Government introduced the National Housing Accord in its first Federal Budget, set to build one million new homes over five years.
Housing Industry Association’s (HIA) Managing Director Graham Wolfe said the budget shows leadership to tackle Australia’s housing supply and affordability challenges for all Australians.
"For every year that Australia doesn’t deliver enough new homes to meet demand across the housing continuum, we will see a negative impact on both housing affordability and rental affordability." Mr Wolfe said.
However, the National Housing Accord is not expected to commence until 2024.
PRD chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo told the Savings Tip Jar podcast the solution is to free-up supply, and for zoning and land restrictions to ease, which is largely up to the discretion of local governments.
"A lot of people think when we say 'land' we mean greenfield - we don't. What we mean is be having less red tape for the inner or middle rings.
"Landowners need to be able to subdivide, or create smaller developments. Whether or not the rental crisis gets worse - in the short term, the answer is yes. With the supply constraints and construction challenges, we can't just pop up houses."
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