Rental rates plummet in capital cities
A recently released national market analysis shows rental income has fallen across the combined capital city markets in the 12-month period to June 2016, but has risen in some regional areas.
The latest CoreLogic RP Data Property Pulse reports a fall in combined capital city rental rates by 0.6 per cent in the period, with individual declines recorded in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin.
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It also found rental growth has slowed further from already low levels in most other capital cities.
Based on median advertised weekly rates, NSW performed the best for house rent increases with 16 regions, followed by Victoria and South Australia with four and Queensland with one. The top four council areas for house rents are Eurobodalla, NSW (25 per cent), Kempsey, NSW (16.7 per cent) and Berri and Barmera, SA (both 13.6 per cent).
Notably, Manly in NSW — sixth on the list at 12.5 per cent — is the only council area in the top 25 located within a capital city. The balance are mid-sized regional markets, with many located in lifestyle locations.
For units, only three of the 25 council areas listed are located within a capital city (Hobart, Pittwater and Wyndham). NSW also dominated this list with 13 regions, followed by six in Vic, two in Qld and Tas and one each in SA and WA.
Most of the top 25 regions listed are coastal lifestyle markets.
The top three are Corowa Shire (20.5 per cent), Clarence Valley (13.3 per cent) and Eurobodalla (12 per cent) — all in NSW.
“While rental rates are falling in many capital city regions, the data suggests that in mid-sized and coastal regional markets, rental demand is picking up. These regions have also been seeing a rise in migration over recent years,” said CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher.
“Perhaps we are seeing evidence of try-before-you-buy in these regions, where people are moving into the regional areas and renting before fully committing to a purchase.
“The fact that unit rents are increasing in many coastal locations is potentially reflective of the recovering markets spurred on by a lower Australian dollar and an improvement across the tourism sector.”
