As shown above, every capital city experienced a fall in vacancy rates over September, except for Darwin, with Darwin and Perth also up by 1.0% over the year.

SQM Research’s Asking Rents Index also revealed that Landlord’s sentiment has not been increasing, with the capital city average recording a 0.2% monthly decrease in asking rental prices for both Houses and Units and a 0.2% yearly decrease in asking rental prices for houses and a mere 1.5% yearly increase in asking rental prices for units (see below table).

According to SQM’s managing director, Louis Christopher:

“Despite the falls in September, our outlook for higher vacancy rates over the next 12 months remains unchanged.

“We believe vacancy rates will move higher at the national level due to an increase in total dwelling completions over the course of 2015 which will be over and above rental demand for the same period. We note now the soft rental market that is clearly in place for most cities and this is just based on moderate increases in vacancy rates to date.”

SQM: Rental vacancies fell in September