The three-bedroom apartment at 11/6 Alexandra St, North Ward, is for rent for $950 per week. Picture: realestate.com.au
The Townsville rental market tightened in the September quarter but in good news for tenants, the vacancy rate was higher compared to a year ago.
The latest PropTrack Market Insight Report showed the vacancy rate in Townsville dropped 0.08 percentage points in the three months to the end of September to sit at 1.29 per cent.
This is 0.23 percentage points higher than September 2023.
While tenants have more choice than a year ago they are also paying more in rent with the median rent up 12.5 per cent in the past 12 months to sit at $495 per week.
REA Group senior economist, Anne Flaherty said in the wider regional Queensland, the rental vacancy rate dropped 0.2 percentage points to sit at 1.08 per cent.
The number of homes available for rent in regional Queensland was also down 0.04 percentage points year-on-year.
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The home at 115 Kalynda Pde, Bohle Plains, is newly for lease at $590 per week. Picture: realestate.com.au
“In Brisbane, rental vacancy fell 0.06 percentage points over the month of September to sit at 1.13 per cent,” she said.
“Even so, the number of rentals vacant in Brisbane increased by 0.09 percentage points compared to September 2023.
“The share of rental properties vacant and available has significantly declined in Brisbane (-47%) and regional Queensland (-56%) since the pandemic onset in March 2020.”
Of the capital cities, Hobart had the tightest rental market at 0.63 per cent, followed by Adelaide and Perth (1.06%), Brisbane (1.13%), Darwin (1.21%), Sydney (1.56%), Melbourne (1.67%) and ACT (1.74%).
In the regional areas, the tightest market was in Tasmania (0.96%) followed by regional NT (1%), regional Queensland (1.08%), regional Victoria (1.09%), regional South Australia (1.1%), regional NSW (1.18%) and regional WA (1.22%).
REA Group senior economist, Anne Flaherty. Picture: Supplied
“In unwelcome news for renters, market conditions deteriorated further in September, with vacancies down in both capital city and regional areas,” Ms Flaherty said.
“The easing in rental conditions seen over the first half of the year appears to have come to an end, with the proportion of rental properties sitting vacant trending lower since July.
“Despite the decline seen in September, vacancies are still higher in most capital cities compared to a year ago, with the combined rate up 0.22 percentage points year-on-year.”
Ms Flaherty said in contrast, regional markets have persistently seen vacancies fall, with the combined regional vacancy rate sitting 0.09 percentage points lower than 12 months ago.
“The gap between capital city and regional vacancy rates has consistently widened over the past five months, with regional vacancy now sitting 0.31 percentage points below capital city levels,” she said.
“Compared to March 2020, there were 46 per cent fewer rental properties sitting vacant in September.”
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