Over the month to 28 October 2021, national asking rents rose 0.6% for houses to $539 per week and units rose by 0.7% to $411 a week.
This rise in rents across the nation was likely still driven by rent increases in regional parts of Australia. Across capital cities, rents grew by 0.2% for both houses and units potentially due to the lockdowns easing.
Vacancy rates
Over the month of September, the residential vacancy rate sat at 1.7% Australia-wide with 59,345 residential properties recorded as vacant across the nation. This is a jump up from 58,856 recorded in August. In Sydney, vacancy rates grew from 2.6% in August to 2.7% in September. In the Sydney CBD, rates rose from 6.9% in August to 7.3% in September, steadily increasing each month. This is most likely a reflection of the lockdown rules and restrictions as well as working from home being the new norm. This may start to decrease over the coming months as restrictions ease.
While in Melbourne, the vacancy rate remained steady at 3.5%. In Perth, Adelaide and Darwin, the vacancy rate was 0.6% over September. While in Brisbane it sat at 1.4% and 0.5% in Hobart. The vacancy rate sat below 1.0% in Adelaide, Darwin and Hobart, singing good news for owners in these states. Perth, Brisbane and Canberra saw no changes in their vacancy rates over October.
Rental values
Over the month to 28 October 2021, national asking rents rose 0.6% for houses to $539 per week and units rose by 0.7% to $411 a week. This rise in rents across the nation was likely still driven by rent increases in regional parts of Australia. Across capital cities, rents grew by 0.2% for both houses and units potentially due to the lockdowns easing.
In Sydney, house rents grew by 0.3% over the month and 1% for units. While Melbourne saw a drop of 0.4% in rents for units and no change in rents for houses. The biggest increase for house rents was seen in Hobart, which rose by 3.5% over October. While Canberra saw a 1.5% increase for units, the highest rise in unit prices across the nation over October. Compared to the same time last year, house rents grew by 14.7% while units grew by 10.5%.
Property prices
Over October, property listings grew by 11.8% across Australia from 214,566 to 239,866. However, in comparison to the same time last year, listings have decreased by 22.2%. Over the same period, new listings (less than 30 days) rose by 18.2% while old listings dropped by 52.3%. Over October, new listings grew by 27.6% with 94,149 new properties added onto the market while old listings were up by 0.5%.
Asking prices in Sydney dropped over the month by 0.7% for houses and 0.1% for units but rose in most other capital cities. In Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, asking prices for units rose by 0.6%, 1.8%, 0.9% and 0.5%, while houses rose by 1.8%, 4.4%, 1.5% and 1.3%. In Darwin and Hobart, asking prices for units rose by 2.4% and 0.5%, while house asking prices rose by 2.7% and 0.4%. In Canberra, asking prices dropped by 1.7% for units and rose by 1.7% for houses.
Cash rate and predictions
The cash rate was held unchanged at 0.1%. The board has signalled that the cash rate is likely to remain on hold until 2024 at the earliest.
