5 towns where it just got a little easier in June to find a rental home

New data revealed that - on average - the vacancy rate for the Northern Rivers area went up, but certain areas remain stubbornly low on rentals available.

New data from the Real estate Institute of NSW (REINSW) revealed the vacancy rate for the Northern Rivers area went up in June.

It got slightly easier to find a rental home on the Northern Rivers, but certain spots remain stubbornly hard when trying to get accommodation.

New data from the Real estate Institute of NSW (REINSW) revealed the vacancy rate for the Northern Rivers area went from 0.3 per cent in May to 1 per cent in June.

REINSW’s CEO, Tim McKibbin, said although the rental market had improved for the area, it remained lower than the pre-Covid average of around 2 and 3 per cent.

“Despite the numbers looking better, areas like Ballina remain stubbornly low, at a rate of 0.5 per cent for June, same as Brunswick Heads at 0.37 per cent. but the lowest rate was in Condong in the Tweed with a rate of 0.0 per cent,” he said.

The executive said places such as Ballina, Brunswick Heads and Condong were still not offering many rentals.

“From a tenant’s point of view, going from 0.3 per cent to 1 per cent is quite a jump, so there will be more choice in the area, except on those areas where the rates are still very low, but in general you can say the area is still really tight” he said.

The REINSW data did not show any June results for the Byron Bay and Lismore postcodes.

Mr McKibbin said the main question in regards to the rental market was the effect the current Sydney lockdown would exert on regional NSW.

“When we were in lockdown here in Sydney 12 months ago, a lot of people in Sydney decided to buy or rent a property in regional NSW as they seemed not to suffer so many lockdowns as the city,” he said.

“But they did not let go of their Sydney properties.

“What I think it may happen now with the current lockdown is that you’ll start to see additional people moving into the area.

“When this could become a problem again is if they don’t sell their property in Sydney and occupy a property in Northern NSW, buying or renting, and when they do that, they are now consuming two properties.”

Mr McKibbin said the number of people coming back to the country during the pandemic has also put pressure on the Australian housing market across metro and regional areas.

The REINSW CEO said the ‘new normal’ for housing markets in regional NSW will probably not revert its to pre-pandemic state.

“That means that people will be working from home a lot more, and that means that regional markets will be looking increasingly attractive going forward, so that ‘new normal’ will look like regional markets will needing to increase the stock they are offering,” he said.

REINSW data from May confirmed Ballina and Tweed shires have the biggest amount of residential properties in the pipeline to be built in coming months in Northern NSW.