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Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) CEO Cath Hart believes the capital city’s vacancy rate is “likely to tighten further over the course of the year”.
She has cited strong demand and low levels of supply as keeping Peth’s vacancy rate at near-record levels – at 0.8 per cent.
That’s despite it rising 0.1 percentage point in the June quarter, with Ms Hart quipping that there were some signs the rental market was improving during the quarter, but those green shoots didn’t bear fruit.
“While members are reporting a lot of activity from Eastern States investors and builders are reporting increasing completions, supply can’t keep up with demand,” she commented.
“Historically, rental listings decline towards Christmas. When you combine this with WA’s strong population growth, we can expect the vacancy rate to decline again.”
Due to its low vacancy rate, Perth saw the biggest jump in median weekly rent for three-bedroom houses across all capital cities; the city saw a 6.8 per cent jump in rent to $550 over the quarter.
That was even higher than Sydney, which saw rents jump 4.8 per cent over the June quarter.
The latest increases also mean the median weekly rent for houses rose 19.6 per cent over a 12-month period, which was also the largest increase among the capitals.
Across other dwellings, the lift in median weekly rent reached 16.3 per cent for the 12-month period.
Perth’s vacancy rate has remained below that of other Australian capital cities; Sydney’s vacancy rate is now sitting at 1.5 per cent, Brisbane is at 1 per cent, Hobart is sitting at 1.8 per cent, Canberra is at 2 per cent, Melbourne is at 2.1 per cent, and Darwin’s vacancy rate is now at a balanced 3 per cent.
Only Adelaide is reporting a lower vacancy rate than Perth at 0.6 per cent.
Taking a closer look at Perth’s submarkets, all areas reported a boost to median rent over the June quarter.
In Perth inner, rents were up by 3.5 per cent, while Perth’s middle ring sat at 3.4 per cent median rent growth.
Both regions were eclipsed by Perth outer, which saw rents jump by 3.8 per cent over the three-month period.
Looking to the regional areas, Bunbury saw rents lift by 4.9 per cent, Broome rents jumped by a whopping 7.5 per cent, all while Albany saw increases of 1.1 per cent over the quarter.
Over a 12-month period, rents have seen exceptionally strong growth. In Bunbury, rents were up 16.1 per cent, while in Albany the median rent figure has grown by 13.8 per cent.
Broome has seen mammoth growth – median rents are up by 28.2 per cent across the regional hub.
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