Western Downs real estate experts reveal troubling trend of rental crisis

The Western Downs is often considered a place to snap up a housing bargain, but industry leaders have revealed how it’s adding fuel to crippling vacancy problems.

As rental prices surge and stock stagnates, experts in the southwest Queensland real estate industry are seeing a worrying trend keeping rental vacancy rates at basal levels.

First National Surat Basin Chinchilla principal Warren Daniels said rental vacancy had been less than one per cent for the past three years.

He blames this rental crisis on a lack of new listings, saying he’d seen a 70 per cent decrease in stock levels.

“This puts stress on renters because the number of rentals available has dropped and it also explains why house prices have risen, because there’s more demand but less stock.” he said.

“We’re seeing a reduction every quarter of the amount of rental bonds being held by RTA, because so many rental properties are being sold off to investors or owner-occupiers.

Principal licensee of First National Real Estate Surat Basin Chinchilla Warren Daniels.

“We have recently seen that boom and bust, and now prices on houses have dropped dramatically.”

Mr Daniels said a common trend was people selling up in other parts of the country and buying cheaper houses in areas like the Western Downs.

“They think, ‘I can buy into this market on a good size block of land, put some money in the back pocket, buy a caravan, a Land Cruiser and have some money leftover for grandkids.’”

Renting has become so difficult that a new tenant has signed the lease before the old tenant has moved out, with rental applications surging to 30 per property.

“We have a constant waiting list and put together three or four good tenants for a landlord, but only one wins that race.

“Some properties we don’t advertise because we already have applicants.”

Ray White Rural Dalby real estate agent Anna Coomber.

Ray White Rural residential sales agent Anna Coomber said the Dalby market had remained steady over the past 12 months.

“The sales market is still really strong at the moment, Dalby has been really lucky in that regard,” she said.

“There’s still a lot of buyers around.

“We’ve currently got lots of buyers coming to us and asking us to doorknock on people’s houses and ask them if they want to sell.”

Ms Coomber said she was noticing a slight upward trend going into the spring season, with people who are starting new jobs or generally preparing for the new year.

She said interstate migration was also a big factor, and there were also cases of parents wanting to buy properties to house their adult children who couldn’t find rentals.

New properties are expected to become available in Chinchilla next year, offering some small reprieve to the region’s rental crisis. Photo: Brett Wortman

Mr Daniels said another issue within the market was that houses were still undervalued in our market.

“Why would a buyer spend the money to build a brand new house when they can get an old one on the same size block of land for much less?”

“People always ask why we can’t just build more houses, but you can’t build more houses because it costs so much to build them even though the land is so cheap. It doesn’t gel at the end.”

Mr Daniels said renters were living a ‘grim nightmare’ through no fault of their own, with many desperately trying to get out.

“They’re saying to me, ‘We don’t want to live this grim nightmare again and will be exiting the rental market,’ all the time.”

Mr Daniels confirmed there was some small light ahead, with new properties set to be available in Chinchilla next year.

Originally published as Western Downs real estate experts reveal troubling trend of rental crisis