Property managers in parts of Perth and Queensland are likely to see smaller new-investor rent rolls in 2026, following shifts in new rental supply nationwide.
New data has shown a shift in volume of newly investor-held rentals in each city, with Perth recording the steepest fall and Tasmania seeing a boost in new stock.
FOUNDIT’s New Rental Index, which tracked rental samples where the property was sold within the prior 18 months, showed the nationwide volume of newly investor-held rental homes fell 7.5 per cent, from 17,203 listings to 15,913.
Greater Perth recorded the steepest fall of any capital, with a 35 decline year-on-year, while the rest of Western Australia dropped 29.3 per cent.
Queensland followed, with rentals outside of Brisbane falling 23.1 per cent and Greater Brisbane declining by 21.7 per cent.
FOUNDIT’s head of research, Kent Lardner, said Perth, Mandurah, Townsville, Toowoomba and Cairns were all down more than 35 per cent, with property managers in those areas expecting a structurally smaller new-investor rent roll in 2026.
He said the data primarily reflected the investors who bought in 2023 and 2024 now opted to cash out their properties due to recent price rises.
“Perth inner was down 45 per cent and Brisbane inner city fell 31 per cent … Ipswich is down 22 per cent and Logan down 19 per cent in the same pattern,” he told REB.
“When investors sell into a rising market, owner-occupiers typically pick up that stock, and it leaves the rental pool altogether.”
Comparatively, Lardner said the opportunity was flowing to Tasmania and Darwin and parts of regional Victoria, such as Gippsland.
Tasmania saw investor-held rentals double outside the metropolitan areas, recording 100.6 per cent, while Greater Hobart rose 53.8 per cent and Greater Darwin lifted 50 per cent.
“Launceston is up 98 per cent, Hobart 54 per cent, Darwin 50 per cent. That is where agencies will grow rent rolls this year,” Lardner said.
Meanwhile, the data showed Greater Melbourne, the only mainland east coast capital in positive territory, gained 8.2 per cent, with regional Victoria up 27.3 per cent.
NSW and South Australia had the least change in new investor-held rentals, with Greater Sydney softening 8.4 per cent and Greater Adelaide falling 7.6 per cent.
Lardner said vacancy was already tightening where investor-acquired stock had stopped flowing to tenants, such as Perth South-West, Central Queensland, Mandurah, metropolitan Adelaide
He said the data pointed to renewed upward pressure on rents through 2026, particularly in capital-city units where the supply pullback was sharpest.
“Tasmania and the Top End are the opposite case: rising investor supply and softening vacancy suggest renters, not landlords, will gain leverage there in the second half of the year,” he added.
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