This home at 150 Ryland Rd, Rapid Creek, is newly for lease for $825 per week. Picture: realestate.com.au
Darwin has the tightest rental market in the country with new data showing the number of homes available to rent in the NT’s capital dropped in July.
The latest PropTrack Market Insight Report, released this week, showed the vacancy rate in Darwin fell 0.15 percentage points last month to sit at just 1.03 per cent.
PropTrack senior economist Anne Flaherty said this was the lowest rental vacancy rate in Australia.
“Darwin saw the largest quarterly drop in available rentals (down 0.78 percentage points) of all markets in July, and the second largest annual decline (down 0.69 percentage points) behind regional NT,” she said.
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PropTrack senior economist Anne Flaherty. Picture: Supplied
In regional NT the vacancy rate was up 0.24 percentage points in July to sit at 1.56 per cent.
“Despite this, rental vacancy in regional NT saw the second-largest fall over the quarter (down 0.65 percentage points) and greatest decline over the year to July (down 0.7 percentage points),” Ms Flaherty said.
“The number of available rentals in Darwin and regional NT has plummeted since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 (down 78 per cent and 57 per cent respectively).”
The PropTrack report showed the national rental vacancy rate dropped by just 0.01 percentage points in July to 1.42 per cent.
“The slight drop in vacancy was driven by regional markets, which recorded a 0.04 percentage point decline month-on-month to 1.28 per cent,” Ms Flaherty said.
“Capital cities, in contrast, held steady at 1.47 per cent over July.”
The house at 8 Wilkinson St, Parap, is for rent at $900 per week. Picture: realestate.com.au
The highest capital city vacancy rate was in ACT at 2 per cent, followed by Sydney (1.68 per cent), Melbourne (1.56 per cent), Perth (1.26 per cent), Brisbane (1.16 per cent), Hobart (1.11 per cent), Adelaide (1.06 per cent) and Darwin (1.03 per cent).
“While conditions remain incredibly tough for Australia’s renters, rental supply has improved over the past three months, with the national vacancy rate rising,” Ms Flaherty said.
“Capital cities have seen the largest improvement, with vacancy up in six of the eight cities over the quarter.
“Supporting the rise in capital city vacancies has been an increase in investor activity, with the number of new loan commitments to investors up 25 per cent over the June quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year.”
Ms Flaherty said higher investor activity resulted in more rental properties hitting the market, helping to counteract the increase in demand from population growth.
“Regional areas, in contrast, have seen conditions deteriorate even further, with vacancy falling to 1.28 per cent in July,” she said.
“Vacancy in the regions has now held below capital city levels for three consecutive months.”
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