The Geelong suburbs where rents are falling

New rental data reveals that demand pressure on Geelong’s rental market is easing, compared the rest of Victoria. See the suburbs where median rents are falling.

10 Isabella St, Geelong West, is available to rent for $530 a week.

Rents have been falling in a handful of Geelong suburbs as new data reveals pressure is easing in the rental market.

The September quarter median weekly rental figures from PropTrack reveal asking rents for houses or units had dropped in seven suburbs across the region in the past three months.

The data showed rents dropped for houses in Geelong West, Point Lonsdale, Ocean Grove, and Waurn Ponds, with unit rents dropping in Corio, Hamlyn Heights and Ocean Grove.

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Rents remained steady in 15 suburbs and rose between $1 and $7 a week in another 10.

Areas with the biggest rise in rents included $30 a week for units in Geelong and $25 a week for houses in Newtown.

Only Barwon Heads had experienced a drop in the median weekly rent compared to the same time last year.

PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan said the aggregate figures for suburbs across the regional showed that rental demand pressure was easing in Geelong, in comparison to the rest of Victoria.

32 Lockington Cres, Point Lonsdale, is available to rent for $480 a week.

“Rents are growing solidly in most parts of Geelong, but at a pretty moderate pace compared with the rest of the country or the rest of Victoria,” Mr Ryan said.

“That shows there’s a bit less rental demand pressure in Geelong than elsewhere and some of that is probably a bit of either people moving back (to Melbourne) or fewer people moving to Geelong.”

Mr Ryan said the easing in demand had come after Geelong experienced a population boom, especially during Covid.

“There’s been such a boom in Geelong over the past three years now that I guess the relative affordability has waned and that was one of the key drivers.”

Mr Ryan said the push to work from home had reversed, which had seen more people head back to the city.”

Hayeswinckle head of property management Jessica Scholer the crisis impacting the rental market had become more about affordability than stock as more people left the region.

“We’ve seen over Covid an influx in people moving into the region, especially in the coastal areas.

“Those areas demographically have a lot of Airbnbs and short-term rentals and when Covid hit a lot of them were converted into (long-term) rentals and so we found those areas became really popular in the winter, rents went up quite dramatically over Covid and even towards the start of 2022.

20 Pinot St, Waurn Ponds, is listed to rent for $500 a week.

“But we’ve seen that they’re coming back down. A lot of people in those areas have moved back to Melbourne and we’re seeing that the vacancy rate there is growing quite a lot.

“As things are back to normal a lot of our renters that did come from Melbourne are starting to head back.”

Ms Scholer said affordability was the biggest issue, as rental homeowners grapple with the rise in interest rates and an impending Victorian government land tax hit.

“There is stock there but it is the ability for people to be able to afford that stock because overall the rents have risen in most other areas,” she said.

24A Bayview Pde, Hamlyn Heights, is available to rent for $850 a week.

“We have things that are sitting on the market for up to a month at a time. But it’s the ability of people to be able to afford those rents now versus stock levels.”

Ms Scholer said rental homeowners were already talking about the impact of the rise in land tax on their budgets.

“When it’s time to do a rent review on a property, owners are saying okay we have interest rate rises, and then next year we’re going to be paying at least $1000 a year on land tax, so they are factoring that in.”

Originally published as The Geelong suburbs where rents are falling