By Leith van Onselen

As shown above, the commodities bust continues to weigh heavily on both Perth and Darwin, with vacancy rates in each jurisdiction rising in November and jumping by 1.4% and 1.0% respectively over the year, and both jurisdictions approaching the 4% threshold.

By contrast, the bubble epicentres of Sydney (1.7% – no change YoY) and Melbourne (2.4% – down 0.3% YoY) remain relatively tight, as do Adelaide (2.0% – up 0.5% YoY), Canberra (2.0% – up 0.1% YoY), and Hobart (0.8% – down 0.3% YoY).

SQM Research also released asking rents data for the week ended 12 December 2015, which again recorded sharp falls in rents in Darwin and Perth, which have held down asking rents nationally:

According to SQM Research’s managing director, Louis Christopher:

“We note that 2015 overall has recorded another year of modestly rising vacancies. It suggests the supply side has been running a touch ahead of underlying demand at the national level. As we predicted back in October, I believe rents in 2016 will record only modest rises with the outperforming areas likely to be the Gold Coast and Hobart.”

The big surprise above is Melbourne, where asking rents have risen 3.4% year-on-year for houses.

I doubt it will last long, however, with Victorian (read Melbourne) population growth falling just as dwelling construction is undergoing an unprecedented boom:

Then again, all those foreign investors could be keeping their properties vacant – a point reinforced by the latest Speculative Vacancies report released last week by Prosper Australia, which revealed that parts of Melbourne’s inner-city apartment complexes are becoming ‘ghost towers’, with large numbers of unused or barely used homes. How long this persists, however, is anyone’s guess.

unconventionaleconomist@hotmail.com

Perth, Darwin rental vacancies near 4%