Australia’s rental vacancy rate held at a record low of 0.8 per cent in November.Rental vacancies typically increase at this time of year, but experts say it will provide little relief for tenants.Tenants across Australia are struggling to find a place to call home, let alone an affordable property, as rental vacancy rates languish at record lows, new figures show.
Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said this was a seasonal rise as the rental market moved into the busy change-over period, and would do little to improve the situation for renters. While there were about 20,320 vacant rentals last month, that was still down 46.6 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier.“We’re nowhere near this providing alleviated conditions for tenants.
Powell said governments needed to make it more affordable to buy a home to ease rental demand, while housing supply should be boosted in middle ring suburbs, more build-to-rent development encouraged, and longer-term leases offered. “[The vacancy rate] will drop further ... particularly in certain pockets of the city; the high-rise building areas and those close to universities,” she said. “Those apartments will lease really quickly, and I would say at higher than average rental prices.”
At the same time, rental supply had reduced, as some landlords cashed out of the market, while other potential investors sat on the sidelines as property prices soared.
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