Rents increase across Australia

Rents increase across Australia

Posted on Thursday, January 19 2012 at 1:53 PM

The soft homebuyer market has put increased pressure on the rental market, resulting in higher rents across the entire country, according to Australian Property Monitors’ Rental Price Series quarterly report.

Median weekly asking rents for houses increased by 1.1 per cent in the December quarter, while rents for units increased by 1.4 per cent.

Canberra experienced the biggest increase of all capital cities, rising 6.4 per cent in the quarter from $470 to $500 per week. Brisbane and Perth also had healthy jumps, increasing by 2.7 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively, (from $370 to $380 in Brisbane and from $390 to $400 in Perth).

“Increasing competition for properties, particularly from homebuyers unable or unwilling to enter the property market has resulted in rising rental prices over the December quarter for both houses and units,” Australian Property Monitors senior economist Andrew Wilson says.

“After flat results over the previous two quarters, landlords have capitalised on the high competition in the marketplace and are charging a premium for their properties.

“It’s expected that as the housing price cycle bottoms out and confidence returns, we’ll see increased buyer activity in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Canberra through 2012 that will take some pressure off the rental markets in these capitals.”

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