November 2025 rental snapshot: closing out 2025 with signs of balance ahead

Article by Alison Cheung Communications Manager 15 December 2025

Key points

• Vacancy rates edged higher in November 2025, with the national rate lifting to 1.3%. No capital city saw rental conditions tighten.
• National weekly rents reached $669. Rental growth was stronger in units than houses.
• Moderation is in sight for 2026. Rental growth for the capital cities is expected to be 2-4%.

The national residential vacancy rate lifted to 1.3% in November 2025, SQM Research’s latest data showed. November saw the vacancy rate move from 1.2%, after four consecutive months of stability. The increase in vacancy was due to an additional 2,538 homes added to the rental market. To compare, only 106 homes were made available in October 2025.

Louis Christopher, Managing Director of SQM Research, said this was a seasonal trend.

“The modest rise in the national vacancy rate to 1.3% reflects a normal seasonal pattern as we head into the end of the year,” he said.

Vacancy rates edged higher, with no capitals tightening

With no capital city experiencing tighter rental conditions in November, renters welcomed the moderate, but long-awaited, relief as the Christmas period approaches.

For Property Managers, the shift points to slightly improved leasing conditions, more balanced enquiry levels and less urgency than seen earlier in the year.

Capital city with the tightest rental market

Hobart continued to record the lowest vacancy rate in the country at 0.4% in November 2025, with just 109 properties available. Extremely limited new supply is keeping conditions tight, despite some easing elsewhere.

Capital city with the largest monthly lift in availability

Darwin recorded the biggest increase in vacancy rates, rising to 1.0% from 0.7%. Around 250 homes were available, reflecting a gradual recovery in supply following earlier shortages.

Other capital cities where vacancy rates increased

Apart from Darwin, three other capital cities saw the rental market ease in November 2025.

• Sydney’s vacancy rate edged up to 1.4% (from 1.3%), with the number of available rentals cracking past 10,000.
• Melbourne’s rate lifted to 2.0% (from 1.8%), maintaining its position as the most balanced rental market among the capitals.
• Canberra also saw a small increase to 1.5% (from 1.4%), in line with the typical seasonal slowdown this time of the year.

Steady rent rises, with units picking up pace

A renter in Australia would be looking at paying $669 per week to rent an average home, which edged up by 0.6% in the 30 days to 12 December 2025. Bucking the trend from October, national rental values for units grew faster than that of houses.

• House rents went up by 0.3% in the 30-day period to $744 per week and 6.0% higher than a year ago
• Unit rents went up by 1.0% to $583 per week, an annual increase of 6.2%.

Across the capital cities, rental values for both house and unit markets fell by -0.2% in the 30-day period. Changes over the past 12 months were 4.9% for houses and 5.4% for units.

Rental values for houses in Perth saw 2.2% growth ($852 per week), making it the most significant growth in the capital city unit submarket on a rolling monthly basis.

For units, the capital city with the greatest rental increase was Hobart, where weekly rents surged by 3.0%, reaching $517.

Moderation expected as supply begins to catch up

Mr Christopher said that while rental growth has eased from the peak conditions seen earlier this year, competition remains tight as markets move into the final weeks of 2025.

“That said, we do expect 2026 overall to be a year of moderation in the rental market. Indeed we think it is possible 2026 will be the first year since Covid where there is a balance of sorts between new supply and the expansion in underlying demand,” he said.

Based on SQM Research’s projections, Australia is on track to complete around 185,000 new dwellings, enough to accommodate roughly 480,000 additional residents.

“Our forecast for capital city rental growth next year is a moderate 2-4% which should be in line with inflation.”

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