Darwin rental vacancies increase in August, new data shows

Darwin residents have a little bit more breathing room when it comes to house hunting in the rental market. Here’s why.

As Territorians continue to fret over the worsening housing crisis, new data reveals home availability could be on the rise – however slowly.

The latest PropTrack report released on Saturday revealed Darwin was the only capital city to record an increase in rental vacancies.

The number of available rental properties increased 0.17 percentage points to 1.7 per cent in August.

But Darwin’s rental vacancy rate declined 0.3 per cent over the past year.

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The Territory’s vacancy rate dropped 0.22 percentage points to 1.96 per cent in August.

PropTrack economist and report author Anne Flaherty said there were no signs of rental conditions easing across the country.

“Across Australia, the share of available rental properties has fallen by more than half since the start of the pandemic,” she said.

“The supply of vacant rental properties in regional areas has also deteriorated, with the vacancy rate falling to just 1.1 per cent.

“Regional SA and Queensland have the tightest rental markets, with vacancy sitting below 1 per cent.

“Rents are predicted to continue rising off the back of these incredibly low vacancy rates, which are driving up competition for properties.”