Vacancies rise in Queensland
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The rental market may be easing as a result of growing investor activity, REIQ chairman Rod Honeycombe said.
The REIQ survey found over one third of agents reported an increase in investor activity.
“Over the past few years, it has been the rental sector which has been the better-performing segment of the market,” Mr Honeycombe said.
“Now while the sales market returns to healthy levels of activity after a period of subdued volumes, the rental market is experiencing a slight easing of vacancy rates after a long period of tight rental conditions.”
He said the drop-off in demand may also be cyclical, with activity generally falling in December before recovering in the new year.
Inner-Brisbane saw the highest jump, from 1.7 per cent to 4.1 per cent.
Mr Honeycombe said an over-supply of rentals in this area, as well as new developments, left more properties standing vacant.
However, he believed the Queensland rental market was likely to return to strength in 2014, with the exception of mining regions.
“While rental markets within the mining regions are struggling with both supply and demand imbalances, the outlook for the rest of the Queensland rental market remains positive as business returns to normal now the Christmas holidays have passed,” Mr Honeycombe said.
