Word on the street: There is an increase in rental properties nationally due to strong property sales over the past year. The stats reinforce this, with SQM Research revealing a .2% rise on last year’s national vacancies figure for the month of May.
While this availability is the bee’s knees for tenants, what does this mean for the humble property manager? It means hard work filling vacancies with quality tenants in an industry that is struggling with property manager shortages.
Residential Property Manager recently spoke to industry expert Fiona Blayney, who describes the property manager shortage in Victoria as ‘horrendous’.
“There really is a mass shortage of property managers in that market, the things people are doing down there are unbelievable, such as property managers needing to do 12 interviews a day, back to back”.
Belle Property Annandale and Balmain director Jeremy Payne also told Residential Property Manager that the winter months ahead will be a busy time for property managers.
“A lot of investors have jumped into the marketplace and obviously those properties have turned into properties that have come online from a rental perspective – so we are seeing high levels of stock that have actually translated to a softening in rental prices that we have discovered in the last four weeks or so.”
If you’re a tenant, it’s hip hip hooray! However, if you’re a Property Manager, strap yourself in and make sure your time management skills are perfected, as it’s time to get busy.