SQM Research’s asking rents series shows that rents across the combined capital cities soared by 27.8% in the year to 4 March, with all types of homes experiencing strong growth:
Managing director Louis Christopher believes such rental hyperinflation is unprecedented, squeezed by a combination of accelerating immigration and the shift toward short-term leasing.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. You’d have to go back to the 1970s to see that degree of rental increases”, Christopher said.
“I believe February and March will be the toughest for tenants because we’ve got new uni students looking for accommodation and grads looking to find a place of their own”.
“It’s fair to say that rent as a component of income has risen dramatically in the last two years and is very likely to be at record highs. We’re in uncharted waters right now”, he said.
Separate data from PropTrack shows that the share of rental properties listed under $400 per week has almost halved over the past year amid the hyperinflation of rents.
This time a year ago, 31.5% of capital city homes were listed for rent at or below $400. Today, that share has plunged to just 14.6%.
“Demand for rentals is far outstripping supply, pushing weekly rents higher and the vacancy rate lower”, PropTrack notes.
“With demand for rentals intensifying, we see no reprieve for tenants in the coming months”.
This will create “challenges for those on lower incomes or government support payments as they try to source increasingly scarce rental accommodation”, PropTrack concludes.
The Albanese Government has picked the absolute worst time to ramp immigration to record levels.
Where will the hundreds of thousands of new migrants arriving live when there is already a critical shortage of housing for the current population?
Labor is pouring immigration petrol on the rental bonfire.
And the only logical outcome is further rent inflation and increased homelessness.
