A handful of suburbs have had near-negligible rent increases in the past five years and some even recorded price drops, despite Australia’s widespread rental crisis.
Units in Revesby and South Granville in Sydney’s west, and East Gosford on the NSW Central Coast either declined in price or recorded minimal growth since 2019, Domain data showed.
Renters face a competitive market, but a handful of suburbs are barely higher than five years ago.Credit: Chris Hopkins
House rents either declined or increased by less than 5 per cent in Carlton in Melbourne, Deakin in Canberra, Battery Point in Hobart and Churchlands in Perth.
The pockets of modest growth buck the trend of an increasingly unaffordable rental market in which asking rents have hit record highs, soaring by as much as $80 a week over the past year for Sydney units and $70 for Melbourne units.
“They are either the expensive area in the capital city or a place where there is greater demand for houses than units,” Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said.
Revesby units (which included townhouses) had the second largest fall in rents in the five years since March 2019 at 5.1 per cent – taking the median from $588 in 2019 to $560 in March.
However, in the past year rents there increased by nearly 20 per cent, suggesting there was increasing demand in the area, something Alliance Real Estate principal Theo Kalinderidis has seen first-hand.
“When the new Western Sydney airport was announced, we had more interest from people – once it’s finished [in 2026] we will be between two airports,” Kalinderidis said.
He said the area was also accessible to the city with direct trains on multiple lines, and had seen recent investment in infrastructure thanks to changes last year to zoning rules, residential as well as commercial.
Demand for rentals was also strengthening due to supply issues, with many investment property owners selling due to interest-rate rises, he said.
“I’ve seen more landlords selling in the past year than in the past three,” he said. “Eighty per cent of those properties are not going back to being rentals.”
On the doorstep of Melbourne’s CBD is Carlton – where house rents increased the least in Victoria over five years. It gained 4.6 per cent – roughly $31 a week – taking its median house rent to $680 a week.
Powell said the returion of international students since COVID meant units in the area jumped in price – up nearly 16 per cent to $500 in the past year – and houses could potentially follow.
“You’re priced out of renting a unit so you get a house with a housemate,” she said.
Belle property agent Zac Kelty said he had started to see this happen – students who would usually rent an apartment alone were splitting the cost of a house with one or two others.
“It’s mostly students in the area and it’s predominantly share houses,” he said.
However, he said, this meant demand for rentals was usually strong at the start of the year and then declined after classes started in February.
“We’ve seen more landlords sell houses in the area lately as well,” he said. “The increase in land tax and interest rates, as well as the cost of doing safety checks on terrace houses, has meant it’s not worth it for them.
“There are not a lot of investors out there.”
Canberra property manager Stephanie Traycevska from Bastion Property Group has also seen selling-off by investors.
“A few owners have had to sell or move back in because of interest rates – but also because they can’t get a tenant,” Traycevska said.
She said a property she has had listed for almost a month has struggled to attract interest, even after the owner dropped the rent several times.
Rents have soared almost everywhere, except in a handful of suburbs.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Powell said Deakin was an expensive suburb to rent in – the median rent was $575 a week for units and $850 for houses. Units there had the largest five-year falls in rents nationally – 8.1 per cent, while house rents gained only 0.3 per cent.
“We saw high rates of rental growth in Canberra when interstate migration was in the positive. It’s now in the negative,” she said.
Traycevska said houses in Deakin varied in quality so much that a four-bedroom home could be listed for anywhere between $600 and $1300 a week.
“It’s a bit hit and miss, it’s often a forgotten-about suburb,” she said.
Still, she said there were sought-after schools in the area and it was convenient to the CBD and Parliament house.
“And it’s much less-expensive than Red Hill – which is where people seem to want to be – but it’s still in that area.”