Rent drops $30/week as 7000 more homes in market
PERTH rents have dropped $30 since last year and the number of homes on the rental market has soared to more than 7000, new figures show.
PERTH rents have dropped $30 since last year and the number of homes on the rental market has soared to more than 7000, new figures show.
The median rent across Perth dropped a further $10 to $430 per week through the March quarter, said the Real Estate Institute of WA.
Typically, this equated to $450 per week for a house and $420 for an apartment or villa.
President David Airey said the metropolitan median rent had now dropped $30 since March last
year and that he expected the vacancy rate to climb further during the winter months.
“The Perth vacancy rate lifted to 4.4 per cent for the first three months of the year, due to falling
population growth, the volume of new dwellings on the market and the number of former tenants who became first home buyers while interest rates are low,” Mr Airey said.
According to REIWA a vacancy rate of 3 per cent is considered normal. Mr Airey said the number of rental properties on the Perth market currently had increased to around 7080, up from 5140 on the same time last year but that rents had remained steady in the three months to April.
Perth rents peaked in the middle of 2013 when they hit $475 per week, but have since fallen by 9.5 per cent over the last two years as supply overtook demand.
Mr Airey said many property owners would need to review their asking rents to attract and hold good tenants amid the competition.
“It’s also important for properties to be well presented and properly maintained to attract interest and secure the best lease in the shortest time,” he said.
The figures show the average time taken to lease a property had stretched to 36 days, up by
almost a week on March last year.