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According to the latest data from PropTrack, rental price growth has slowed in most areas of Australia.
Median weekly advertised rents rose to $610 in the three months to September 2024, up 1.7 per cent from the previous quarter.
Capital cities and regional areas contributed fairly equally to the quarterly change, with cities seeing weekly rents increase to an average of $640 per week – a 1.6 per cent increase, and regional rents rising 1.9 per cent to $540 per week.
This puts the rate of growth over the year at 7 per cent. It’s a significant increase but still the weakest annual growth witnessed since September 2021.
Most Australian markets followed the trend of lower annual price growth, with three big exceptions. Hobart, regional NSW and regional Tasmania were the only markets to see stronger rental growth over the past year compared to the year prior.
Capital city rents increased 6.8 per cent over the year, which represents the weakest growth since December 2021, while regional rents posted higher increases at 8 per cent year-on-year.
Growth remained stronger among units than houses, at 9.1 per cent and 6.9 per cent respectively. This has brought the gap between median rents in the two categories to just $20 per week.
PropTrack’s director of economic research, Cameron Kusher, said that the firm expects to see price growth continue to slow in the months ahead.
“With more stock available for rent, and the cost of renting rising at a pace above inflation over recent years, the capacity to pay rent is now impacting demand,” Kusher commented.
He noted that the results out of the latest quarter contained some expected results, as well as some surprises. Sydney is still the most expensive capital city to rent a home, with the median advertised rent of $730 per week unchanged over the quarter and 5.8 per cent higher over the year. Melbourne, however, has slipped to the second cheapest city for renting, at $570 per week, just after Hobart.
He also commented that although the pace of rental growth is slowing and more stock is available for rent, vacancy rates remain in very tight territory.
That may begin to change, as Kusher added that he anticipates “more balanced conditions in the coming months”.
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