National rental vacancy rate remains stable: SQM Research
The national residential rental vacancy rate remained stable at 2.1 per cent over the month of November, SQM Research revealed Tuesday.
The month of November ended with the total number of vacancies Australia-wide now at 78,879, with the vacancy rate slightly below the same time last year at 2.2 per cent.
Capital city vacancy rates remained stable over the month, with the exception of Sydney and Brisbane, which recorded a 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent decrease, respectively.
Sydney saw a minor decrease from 3.6 per cent in October to 3.5 per cent in November.
Melbourne’s vacancy rate – the highest in the nation – remained at 4.4 per cent in November. This time last year, Melbourne’s vacancy rate was at a low 2.2 per cent.
The surplus of rental property is most acute in Melbourne and Sydney’s CBDs, with Melbourne’s vacancy rate standing at 9.1 per cent.
Sydney CBD vacancy rate peaked at 16.2 per cent in May 2020 but has declined to 9.5 per cent in November.
| City | NOV 2019 Vacancies | NOV 2019 Vacancy Rate | OCT 2020 Vacancies | OCT 2020 Vacancy Rate | NOV 2020 Vacancies | NOV 2020 Vacancy Rate |
| Sydney | 24,258 | 3.4% | 26,455 | 3.6% | 26,161 | 3.5% |
| Melbourne | 12,963 | 2.2% | 27,070 | 4.4% | 26,946 | 4.4% |
| Brisbane | 8,629 | 2.5% | 6,912 | 2.0% | 6,455 | 1.8% |
| Perth | 5,200 | 2.5% | 1,936 | 0.9% | 1,835 | 0.9% |
| Adelaide | 1,896 | 1.0% | 1,501 | 0.8% | 1,543 | 0.8% |
| Canberra | 756 | 1.1% | 608 | 0.9% | 601 | 0.9% |
| Darwin | 981 | 3.1% | 217 | 0.7% | 233 | 0.7% |
| Hobart | 159 | 0.5% | 204 | 0.6% | 192 | 0.6% |
| National | 75,947 | 2.2% | 74,221 | 2.1% | 72,879 | 2.1% |
Asking Rents
Over the month, capital city average asking rents increased 0.4 per cent for houses but decreased 0.2 per cent for units for the week ending December 12, to record asking rents of $540 per week for houses and $408 per week for units.
Most capital cities recorded increases in both house and unit asking rents.
Darwin recorded the highest increase of 6.7 per cent over the month for houses and 4.3 per cent in unit asking rents, followed by Hobart which recorded a 6.4 per cent increase in house rents and 3.3 per cent increase in unit rents.
Melbourne, however, recorded declines in both house and unit asking rents over the month of 0.1 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively.
Sydney and Canberra recorded rental increases in houses of 0.9 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively, but a decline in unit rents of 0.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent.
"Rents for units in our two largest cities are still falling, though I note there appears to be a commencement of a reversal in the abundance of listings in the CBD’s of these two cities. They are still very elevated. But we could be starting to see some of the population moving back to the CBD and inner city locations”, SQM’s Louis Christopher said.
