Leasing activity spikes in Perth rental market as affordability improves: REIWA

Perth is seeing a surge in the leasing of one to three-bedroom properties, helping tenants take advantage of improved affordability in the rental market, according to recent reiwa.com analysis.

REIWA president Hayden Groves said one-bedroom leased property activity had increased by 50 percent in the March quarter, while two and three-bedroom properties had increased by 18 per cent.

“There was a significant amount of leasing activity in the one to three bedroom market over the quarter, while four and five bedroom properties experienced a small decline."

“Affordability in Perth’s rental market has improved over the last 18 months, tenants who may have been living in shared accommodation are now finding that they can afford to move out on their own, which is why we’re seeing this shift to smaller households,” Groves said.

In the three months to 31 March 2016, the total volume of leased properties in the Perth metro area increased by 17 per cent on the December 2015 quarter.

“While rental listings in Perth remain above the long-term average, the number of properties leased in the March quarter has soared well above the growth of listings which is a real positive for the market."

He said this has brought the vacancy rate down to 5.6 percent in the March quarter from six per cent in the December quarter as tenants have soaked up stock.

At a sub-regional level, nearly half of Perth’s sub-regions maintained a stable overall median rent in the March quarter, while there were mixed results for average leasing days across the metro area.

“The biggest improvement in average leasing days was felt in the Perth City, Fremantle and Western Suburbs sub-regions, while on average it took longer to lease a property in Joondalup South, Wanneroo North West and Wanneroo South in the March quarter than it did in the December 2015 quarter,” Groves said.