Surprising Aussie suburb where rent has jumped almost 50 per cent
Aussie renters have been hit with even more bad news amid the worsening cost of living crisis, with data revealing the spots where tenants are copping it the most.
Thousands of Aussies have been pushed to breaking point by the relentless rental crisis plaguing the country, with some tenants having to deal with an almost 50 per cent rise in prices.
New data from PropTrack has revealed the suburbs where rents have soared in the last 12 months, with demand continuing to grow despite dwindling supply.
Surprisingly, nine out of the top 10 suburbs that saw the biggest jump in house rental prices were in regional Australia.
This is off the back of a growing number of Aussies wanting more space and turning to a regional lifestyle.
The town of Katanning in Western Australia saw the median rental value for a house rise a whopping 47 per cent in the past year, bringing the weekly median rent to $375.
Coming in second was the small South Australian town of Port Broughton where rent increased 43 per cent to $340, followed by Queensland’s Gatton and Elliott Heads that both saw a 41 per cent jump to $480 per week.
On the other hand, inner city suburbs in the capitals saw the biggest jump in prices for units and apartments.
Inner-city Melbourne topped the list with a 42 per cent increase, bringing the median rental value for a unit up to $540.
Darlington in Sydney saw a 38 per cent increase to $565, followed by The Rocks where the median weekly rental price for a unit is now a whopping $975 following a 35 per cent jump.
Gold Coast suburb Clear Island Waters came in at number four, with a 34 per cent increase to $745 per week.
Rental markets are expected to continue to tighten throughout 2023, according to the PropTrack 2023 Property Market Outlook Report released earlier this month.
PropTrack’s Director of Economic Research, Cameron Kusher, noted that as property prices decline, the rental market will become even more competitive due to the decrease in supply, particularly in inner-city areas.
“This will increase the cost of renting,” he noted in the report.
“While investors are often seen as the reason for fewer first home buyers, the only conceivable ways in which to alleviate rental pressures are either more rental supply (which investors can provide) or affording renters the opportunity to enter home ownership (which government grants and schemes are also seeking to do).”
However, despite falling property prices, Mr Kusher said there is no sign of investor purchases increasing.
“The significant serviceability hurdles to get an additional mortgage and attractive returns on some risk-free asset classes are likely to be key factors keeping residential property investors subdued,” he said.
“An increase in investor purchasing activity over the coming months would be key to alleviating rental supply shortages.”
This comes as new data released by SQM Research revealed there are only 31,000 vacant residential rental properties available across the entire country.
The return of international students is most likely to blame for falls in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but vacancies in regional areas have also continued to fall.
The data revealed at the same time, capital city asking rents have continued to rise, with a 24.7 per cent increase over the past 12 months, and a 17.4 per cent rise in regional areas.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said the national vacancy rates decreased in January back to 1 per cent after the seasonal rise recorded over December 2022.
“We are expecting a further tightening in rental vacancy rates over the month of February based on evidence that weekly listings have fallen again thus far in the current month,” Mr Christopher said.
“We have previously warned that the months of February and March will be the most difficult time for tenants in the national rental market in many years.
“Thereafter we are hoping for some relief given the expected increases in dwelling completions and an overall reduction in housing formation.”
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