Login
iscover
A senior economist has stated he has seen no significant change in vacancy rates across the nation, despite reports that the rental market is slowing down.
The comment follows research saying vacancy rates are creeping upwards in all the major capital cities, and investors' yields may soon begin to suffer.
Speaking to Residential Property Manager, Domain Group senior economist Dr Andrew Wilson said he has certainly seen rents still growing in Sydney and Melbourne.
“There is upward pressure on rents. If we were seeing rising vacancy rates we would see rents at least moderating, but demand for rental properties is still strong in Sydney, house prices and unit prices are still rising and there is no sign of a weakening in rental growth,” he said.
“Rents are [also] rising in Melbourne, so I am not sure I would agree that vacancy rates are rising.
“I think you need to look at the vacancy models of the local, state-based industry groups, such as the REINSW and the REIV, just to see if there is a trend,” he added.
Dr Wilson said other indicators in the rental market are not at all showing a slowdown in the Australian rental market.
“Even though we do have very high numbers of new residential investment properties in the Sydney market in particular, there are no signs that’s causing any sort of an overshoot in terms of a significant change in vacancy rates,” he said.
“We may see some marginal changes but it is certainly not translating into any changes to rents at the moment.
“In fact, the Adelaide and Brisbane markets have been characterised by very low vacancy rates.”
