National rental rates rising, yields holding: CoreLogic

The report found that nationally rents rose by 0.3 per cent over the quarter, which is more than the 0.1 per cent over the previous quarter but the weakest fourth quarter for rental growth since 2014.

Rental rates were higher in Melbourne (+0.3 per cent), Adelaide (+0.9 per cent), Hobart (+2.1 per cent) and Canberra (+1.6 per cent).

They were lower in Sydney (-0.3 per cent), Brisbane (-0.1 per cent), Perth (-0.7 per cent) and Darwin (-0.5 per cent).

Median rents

The report found that national median weekly rents were $420 for houses, and $425 for units.

It found that weekly rents increased by 0.1 per cent, to be 0.3 per cent higher over the final quarter of 2017, and 2.7 per cent higher over the 2017 calendar year.

Capital city rents are now 0.1 per cent lower over the quarter and 2.9 per cent higher year-on-year, while regional market rents are 1.2 per cent higher over the quarter to be 3.0 per cent higher over the past 12 months.

CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher said that although rental growth has accelerated over the past 12 months, the quarterly data points to softer growth.

“Typically, the first quarter of each year shows strong positive seasonality so it will be interesting to see how growth over the first quarter of 2018 compares to the first quarter of 2017,” he said.

“As the latest result show, the final quarter of 2017 was relatively weaker for rental growth compared to the previous year.”