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Vacancy rates are slowly but surely on their way back up, according to investment research house SQM Research.
After vacancy rates fell nationwide in March, a slight rise has been recorded for April.
The number of vacancies across Australia rose to 76,959 rental homes, which translates to 2.4 per cent, up from 2.3 per cent in March.
Sydney and Melbourne recorded vacancy rates of 1.8 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively.
The capital city with the largest vacancy rate was Perth at 4.9 per cent. Following this was Darwin at 3.4 per cent, Brisbane at 3.3 per cent, Adelaide at 1.9 per cent, Canberra at 1 per cent and Hobart at just 0.6 per cent.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said the statistics are indicative of a rental market that is still tight nationwide.
“While the rise in vacancy rates may give tenants a slight reprieve, the trend is still up for asking rents in Sydney and Melbourne, to the point where they are unaffordable for many people,” Mr Christopher said.
“We are nowhere near to seeing any signs of an oversupply of units in either inner-city unit market.”
Weekly rental rates mostly holding steady
Even with a slightly higher vacancy rate, rental rates have kept relatively steady when compared to the previous month, and most capital cities saw only slight rises or falls. Houses nationwide saw a slight decrease of 1.2 per cent while all units recorded a slight rise of 0.6 per cent.
Rises for both house and unit rental rates were seen in Melbourne at 0.2 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively, and Hobart at 0.6 for houses and 6.5 per cent for units, the largest rise for any capital city.
At the other end of the market, rental rate declines for both houses and units were seen in Darwin and Perth, with falls of 3.4 per cent and 1.1 per cent and 0.9 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectfully.
In the other capital cities, Sydney saw a fall in rental rates for houses at 0.6 per cent but a rise in units at 0.3 per cent. Canberra recorded a rise in rental rates for houses at 0.4 per cent and a fall for units at 0.3 per cent, while Brisbane saw a rise in rental rates for houses at 0.1 per cent and a fall for units at 0.5 per cent. Adelaide saw a rise in rental rates for houses at 0.6 per cent, but a fall for units also at 0.6 per cent.
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