Woodgate, Rainbow Beach unit rents highest in Qld

Two Wide Bay towns have recorded Qld’s highest surges in weekly unit rental costs, but rental costs for houses have also put the region on the map for all the wrong reasons.

A “perfect storm” of low supply, hot demand, and law changes is believed to be behind a staggering surge in rental prices in two of the Wide Bay’s idyllic coastal tourist towns.

Woodgate and Rainbow Beach have recorded Queensland’s highest jumps in average rental prices in the past year, with the average price at each beachside town up more than 50 per cent, new figures from REA Group’s PropTrack show.

The median price for a rental in Woodgate, nestled between Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, was $550 per week as of June 2022.

This was 57 per cent higher than what people were paying in June 2021.

Rainbow Beach renters were faced with a similar hike.

Woodgate, nestled between Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, experienced a 57 per cent increase in the average rental price of units, the highest in Queensland.

The average price for the coastal Gympie region tourist town was up 55 per cent, now costing an average of $68 each week.

They were the only two townships to experience rises to experience increases of that magnitude; the third best performer was Gympie city, where the weekly rent bill for units was now averaging $315 (up 26 per cent).

Woodgate Realty partner Kevin Carr said the jump in rent prices was caused by a “perfect storm” of scarcity and law changes.

Mr Carr said the town of about 1500 people had become a hot commodity, even ranked by Aussie Home Loans in October as the fifth most desirable place to buy in Queensland.

Rainbow Beach’s average median unit rental price jumped more than 55 per cent, the second highest in Queensland this past year.

“We never make those types of lists,” Mr Carr said.

This was compounded by a market shortage not expected to change any time soon.

“There’s unlikely to be any more properties (on the market),” Mr Carr said.

He said landlords were also wary of legislative changes and where they believed it tipped the balance of power.

“Landlords are giving us feedback (the new and upcoming laws) are a little unfair,” Mr Carr said.

This, coupled with rising costs on things including mortgages, had resulted in landlords opting to charge higher in an effort to compensate.

Woodgate real estate agent Kevin Carr said a “perfect storm” of supply issues, law changes and rising costs had contributed to a surge in unit rental prices in Woodgate.

Cooloola Coast Realty’s Cooloola Cove manager Deb Mason shared Mr Carr’s views on how legislative changes were driving prices.

Ms Mason said landlords were seeking higher rents now given the new laws would soon regulate them in line with CPI.

The new changes will make it “harder for investors”, Ms Mason said.

There was also undeniably a surge in demand among people priced out of the Sunshine Coast and Noosa.

PropTrack research director Cameron Kusher said the increase in unit rentals at places like Rainbow Beach “surged on strong demand from investors for coastal properties as people have shifted away from the cities”.

Cooloola Coast Realty’s Deb Mason said landlords had raised concerns about new laws about to come into force which would regulate price rises in line with CPI, and this was contributing to the jump in rents.

“It’s likely also been driven by a reduction of rental stock in the market as owners of investment properties in the area have been more inclined to use them for short-term rentals or even purely as a holiday apartment for themselves.”

There was a similar, if less spectacular, movement in the housing rental market too.

Gympie’s Southside experienced the biggest rise in house rental costs in the past year with homes on the southern side of the Mary River now costing an average $470 per week, up more than 30 per cent on 2021.

Next door, at Jones Hill, renters were paying about$500 per week, up 30 per cent.

Bargara had the biggest increase in house rental prices at Bundaberg, up 24 per cent to $480, and at the Fraser Coast Kawungan had the biggest rise at 21 per cent, with renters now paying an average of $500 per week.