The latest rental price data from CoreLogic showed that rents have re-accelerated, growing by 1% over the month of March, by 2.6% over the quarter, and by 8.7% year-on-year:
Yesterday, SQM Research also released rental vacancy data for March, which showed that vacancy rates nationally have collapsed to a 16-year low of only 1.0%, which is half the rate of a year ago:
SQM Research’s asking rents index has also soared, rising another 2.2% over the past month across the combined capital cities to be 11.8% higher year-on-year.
Capital city house rents have soared by of 14.7% year-on-year, whereas unit rents have surged by 11.2%.
Commenting on the results, SQM Managing Director Louis Christopher noted that “the rental crisis has deepened” and “market rents have exploded”. To make matters worse, “the recent monthly data suggests we are still not at the worst point of the crisis” with “many localities and townships recording zero vacancy rates”. As a result, “it is likely homelessness will be increasing”.
With the international border now open and the federal government rebooting immigration with gusto, rental vacancy rates are likely to fall even further.
The recent floods in New South Wales and Queensland has also compounded the shortage of rental homes across New South Wales and South East Queensland.
Given Australian renters spend ten times more on rents than petrol, it is puzzling that neither major party has addressed the rental crisis during the election campaign.
Sadly, Australia’s growing army of renters are blind to our politicians, who always prefer to throw money at home buyers.
