Vacancy Rates Decline in January

The national residential vacancy rate declined to 2.2% in January 2019, from 2.5% in December 2018, with the total number of vacancies Australia-wide declining to 72,574 – 9,984 less properties are now available for rent since December 2018.

All capital cities, except Hobart experienced a decline in their vacancy rates in January with Darwin currently having the highest vacancy rate of all capital cities at 3.8%, down from 0.5% on December’s vacancy of 4.3%.

Although Hobart increased its vacancy rate marginally by 0.1%, it still remains the lowest of all capital cities at 0.5% for January 2019.

Sydney’s vacancy rate, although declining, is still currently the second highest of all capital cities at 3.2% with 22,426 properties available for rent.

City		Jan-2018 Vacancies	Jan-2018 Vacancy Rate	Dec-2018 Vacancies	Dec-2018 Vacancy Rate	Jan-2019 Vacancies	Jan-2019 Vacancy Rate
Adelaide	2,793		1.5%	2,383	1.3%	2,141	1.1%
Perth		8,909	4.4%	6,935	3.4%	6,121	3.0%
Melbourne		9,744	1.8%	12,619	2.2%	10,564	1.9%
Brisbane		11,505	3.6%	10,519	3.2%	8,911	2.7%
Canberra		569	0.9%	829	1.3%	594	0.9%
Sydney		15,775	2.3%	25,177	3.6%	22,426	3.2%
Darwin		941	3.1%	1,317	4.3%	1,193	3.8%
Hobart		126	0.4%	121	0.4%	144	0.5%
National		74,113	2.3%	82,558	2.5%	72,574	2.2%

Key Points

• Nationally, the vacancy rate declined to 2% in January, down from 2.5% in Dec-2018.
• Hobart was the only capital city to increase – up marginally by 0.1% but continues to record the lowest vacancy rate of 5%.
• Darwin continues to have the highest vacancy rate at 8%, followed by Sydney which declined to 3.2%.
• Capital city asking rents for Houses rose 7% over the month to 12 January 2019 to $559
  per week.
• Capital city asking rents for Units also rose by 7% to $439 a week.

Asking Rents

The decline in vacancies is expected in January as December usually has a higher seasonal listings.  

It still appears to be a tenants market in Darwin and Sydney where vacancy rates are high at 3.8% and 3.2% respectively.

Going forward, we expect another seasonal decline in vacancies for the month of February.

However for the year our expectation is national vacancy rates will rise at the national level, driven by rises in Sydney.

The decline in vacancies saw asking rents for houses in capital city increase 0.2% over the month to 12 February 2019 to $560 a week.

Unit asking rents also increased 0.7% to $442 a week.

Over the year, asking rents for houses declined 0.4% while unit asking rents remained steady.

Hobart recorded the highest weekly rental increase of 4.8% for units but house weekly rents declined 0.6% declined.  

12 months ago, Hobart’s house asking rent increased by 4.3%.

Sydney, Melbourne and Perth recorded marginal increases in both house and unit asking rents over the month to 12 February 2019.

Whilst Darwin, Brisbane and Adelaide recorded declines in weekly rents for both houses and units.

Canberra’s house rentals increased 1.6% but unit asking rents declined 1.7%.

SQM Research Weekly Rents Index
Week ending: 12 Feb 2019		Rent	Change on prev week	Rolling month % change	12 month % change
Canberra	All Houses	644.9	2.1	1.6%	4.7%
	All Units	460.4	-4.4	-1.7%	5.6%
Sydney	All Houses	710.1	-1.1	0.6%	-4.5%
	All Units	510.7	0.3	0.4%	-2.8%
Darwin	All Houses	504.3	-3.3	-0.5%	-9.4%
	All Units	384.6	0.4	-1.8%	-6.4%
Brisbane	All Houses	457.4	-0.4	-0.1%	1.7%
	All Units	374.7	0.3	-0.4%	1.5%
Adelaide	All Houses	392.4	-1.4	-0.9%	2.7%
	All Units	299.8	-1.8	-0.8%	1.2%
Hobart	All Houses	418.7	-1.7	-0.6%	4.3%
	All Units	357.9	-16.9	4.8%	2.1%
Melbourne	All Houses	543.7	0.3	0.4%	3.0%
	All Units	417.2	1.8	2.0%	4.2%
Perth	All Houses	440.8	1.2	0.3%	3.2%
	All Units	328.6	-0.6	0.6%	1.5%
National	All Houses	448.0	0.0	-0.2%	0.2%
	All Units	362.0	-4.0	-1.6%	3.1%
Cap City Average	All Houses	560.0	1.0	0.2%	-0.4%
	All Units	442.0	0.0	0.7%	0.0%

Source: www.sqmresearch.com.au