A soft homebuyer market has put increased pressure on the rental market, resulting in higher rents across the country, according to Australian Property Monitors’ Rental Price Series Quarterly Report.
Nationally, median weekly asking rents for houses rose by +1.1 per cent in the December quarter with rents for units rising by +1.4 per cent. Canberra experienced the biggest increase of all capital cities for median asking weekly rents for houses, rising +6.4 per cent in the quarter from $470 to $500.
Sydney, Brisbane and Perth also saw modest rises over the quarter, while Adelaide remains the cheapest city to rent a house or unit.
Melbourne continues to be Australia’s most tenant-friendly rental market, with rental prices remaining stable over the quarter. “Increasing competition for properties, particularly from homebuyers unable or unwilling to enter the property market has resulted in rising rental prices over the December quarter for both houses and units,” said Dr Andrew Wilson, Senior Economist, Australian Property Monitors. “After flat results over the previous two quarters, landlords have capitalised on the high competition in the marketplace, and are charging a premium for their properties,” said Dr Wilson. “It is expected that as the housing price cycle bottoms out, and confidence returns we will see increased buyer activity in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Canberra through 2012 that will take some pressure off the rental markets in these capitals,” said Dr Wilson.
About Australian Property Monitors (APM) APM is a leading national supplier of property price information to homebuyers and sellers, professional real estate agents, mortgage brokers, valuers, banks and financial markets. APM has been helping our customers make informed decisions about property since 1989. APM monitors residential property activity from a variety of sources including auctions, government and semi-government agencies, real estate advertising, real estate agents and APM’s own researchers. This vast pool of information ensures APM’s databases contain the latest and most detailed house price information available.
Tagged: Australian Property Monitors, BHR Group, House prices, landlords, Rents
