‘Significant slowdown’ in rental growth set to continue
Rental growth across most of Australia’s capital cities remains sluggish due to increased housing supply and record investor activity.
CoreLogic RP Data said rental rates in the capital cities during March were 1.2 per cent higher than the year before.
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That pushed the median weekly asking rent to $435 for houses and $415 for units across the capital cities.
Hobart saw the largest increase in median weekly rent for houses, up 6.1 per cent year-on-year to $350. Units remained unchanged over the year at $280.
Perth saw the greatest decrease in median weekly rent for houses, dropping 5.3 per cent year-on-year to $450. It also recorded a 5.6 per cent drop in unit rents to $425.
Darwin was the only other city to see a fall in median asking rent for houses over the year, dropping 3.1 per cent to $630. It recorded a 5.5 per cent drop in unit rental prices to $520.
Annual rental growth was more moderate across most other capital city markets.
Sydney and Melbourne were the only two capital cities to record rental growth increases in the unit market.
Sydney recorded a 2.0 per cent increase year-on-year to $500, while Melbourne increased 1.4 per cent to $370.
For houses, Sydney’s weekly rent increased 3.9 per cent to $530, while Melbourne’s rose 2.6 per cent to $390.
Neither Brisbane nor Adelaide recorded any annual change in median unit rental prices, staying at $390 and $300 respectively.
Brisbane’s median rental price for houses rose 2.5 per cent to $410, while Adelaide’s increased 2.9 per cent to $350.
Canberra recorded no change in the median rental value for houses, staying at $480 per week. For units, the rental price dropped 2.5 per cent to $390.
CoreLogic RP Data research analyst Cameron Kusher said it was no surprise unit growth was tracking lower than houses given the high level of investor activity in capital city’s unit markets.
“With new housing supply increasing and investor purchasing at record highs, we have seen a significant slowdown in the rate of rental growth over the past couple of years and we expect this trend to continue over the coming year,” Mr Kusher said.
