Residential Housing vacancy rates throughout all states increased
slightly in December, but in most capitals asking for rents also
increased, suggesting a positive outlook for landlords in 2020.
“It’s quite likely that we’ve reached the peak in national rental vacancy rates, with ongoing strong population growth absorbing current surplus rental stock over 2020,” says SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher.
All states experienced slight increases in vacancy rates with Sydney reporting the highest vacancy rate at 3.6 percent followed by Darwin at 3.5 percent and Brisbane at 2.9 percent. Hobart is at 0.6 percent the lowest of all capital cities
National residential rental vacancy rates increased slightly from 2.2 percent registered in November and December 2019 to 2.5 percent. Australia-wide vacancies now stand at 84,591 empty residential properties.
“The probabilities are high that vacancy rates will now peak and gradually fall over 2020,” Christopher says. More promisingly, over the last three months, rents rose in most capital cities except Perth and Darwin. Hobart leads with a 7% increase, followed by Sydney (up 3%), Melbourne and Canberra (both up 2.7%), Brisbane (up 2.5%), and Adelaide (up 1.2%). The market favors landlords investing in rental properties. “The increasing rents in most capital cities could see a move towards a landlords’ market in the coming months,” Christopher says.
