According to CoreLogic’s Quarterly Rental Review for Q3 2022, the national rental index saw its slightest bump for the year so far, up 0.6% for the month to September and 2.3% for the quarter. While that’s down 60 basis points on the June quarter’s 2.9% increase and 70 basis points down from the recent May peak of 3.0%, the annual growth trend was still sitting at a record high of 10% for August and September.
“The past few years has seen unprecedented growth in rental values,” said Kaytlin Ezzy, report author and research analyst at CoreLogic. Ezzy noted that despite marginal declines in the first few months of the global pandemic, national dwelling rents have increased by nearly 20% since August 2020, equating to a weekly increase of around $90 in rent each week.
Total supply of advertised rental stock is now 35.4% under the previous five-year average, with national dwelling vacancy rates falling from 1.3 % to 1.1% over the September quarter, the lowest rate on record.
“One factor which has likely negatively impacted rental supply is the decline in investor purchasing activity between early 2017 and early 2020,” said Ezzy. Brisbane experienced the greatest quarterly increase in dwelling rents at 3.8%, followed by Adelaide and Darwin at 3.6%, Sydney at 2.9%, Perth at 2.5%, Melbourne at 2.3% and Hobart at 0.4%.
Canberra was the only capital rental market to see a decline in dwelling rents of 0.4%, with house rents down 0.9% for the quarter. “Despite, Canberra remained the most expensive capital city to rent in with the median weekly rent at $682, followed by Sydney at $665, Darwin at $590, Brisbane at $573, Hobart at $551, Perth at $533, Adelaide at $508 and Melbourne still the most affordable at $495.