National vacancy remains tight for both houses and units

There was good news for investors in Brisbane where vacancy rates fell by 0.2 percentage points from March to 3.0 which is also 0.7 percentage points down from April last year.

Melbourne saw a fall in its rate to 1.3 per cent while Sydney’s remained steady at 2.3 per cent but is up from 1.7 per cent a year earlier.

Hobart’s vacancy rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 0.7 percent, signalling an end to Hobart tenant woes said Louis Christopher, managing director of SQM research.

“While vacancies remain tight, this is the sixth straight month of vacancy increases, signalling that the worse now could be over for Hobart tenants,” he said.

Oversupply

In Adelaide the vacancy rate dipped slightly to 1.3 per cent, while Darwin had the largest dip from 3.6 per cent to march to 3.3 in April.

Perth remained steady at 4.1 per cent but is down a whole 1.1 percentage points from last year as the oversupply eases in the city.

Asking rents for houses across the capitals fell from May by 1.6 per cent to $554 a week while units rose by 0.5 per cent to $445 a week.

Annually, housing rents fell by 0.2 percent, particularly in cities like Sydney and Perth where asking prices fell by 1.6 per cent over the year.

Sydney remains the highest for rental prices with a three-bedroom house at $726 a week and units at $525 a week.

Relief

However, Mr Christopher said that there had still been a drop in Sydney prices, offering some relief for renters.

In Sydney too, we are seeing some relief in rental costs, with asking rents for houses down by 1.6 per cent over the month and 2.2 per cent lower over the year given a rise in its vacancy rate to 2.3 per cent from 1.7 per cent.

Canberra followed close behind with $619 for houses and $442 for units.

Melbourne house rents dropped by 0.7 per cent to $534 while unit rents rose by 0.7 per cent to $410.

The cheapest capital was Adelaide where rental for houses was $382 a week, with units at only $299.

The only capital to have both house and unit prices drop over the past year was Perth which saw house prices fall by 1.6 per cent to $421 a week and units fall by 3.7 per cent to $324.