The vacancy rate for rental properties in metropolitan Perth has eased in March due to diminished stock rather than increased demand.
The vacancy rate for rental properties in metropolitan Perth has eased in March due to diminished stock rather than increased demand.
The announcement is below:
Tenants in metropolitan Perth continue to benefit from stable rental prices as the vacancy rate for properties to let remains well above average.
New data from the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia show that while the vacancy rate in Perth dropped slightly from 4.7 per cent in December to 4.1 per cent in March, the overall median rent remains unchanged at $370 per week.
REIWA President Alan Bourke said the slightly lower vacancy rate was due to diminished stock and not to increased demand by tenants.
"What we are witnessing is that many investors who found it hard to sell in the last couple of years put their properties into the rental system to ride out the downturn.
"Now that things have improved, some owners are listing these dwellings for sale which accounts for the increased stock for sale and the lower vacancy rate," Mr Bourke said.
Mr Bourke said this dynamic also helped to explain why rents were stable.
"There is no great demand pressure to cause rent increases and it's notable that typical rents in Perth have only grown by about $10 per week since the December quarter of 2008," Mr Bourke said.
REIWA data show that the median rent for a house in Perth is $380 per week, up by a modest $5 on December, while the median rent for units, apartments, villas and townhouses was steady at $350 per week.
Despite no movement in Perth's overall median rent, some sub-regions did experience rises and falls.
REIWA data show that rents increased by 6 per cent in Bayswater-Bassendean (to $350 per week), and by 5.7 per cent in the north west section of Wanneroo ($370).
Conversely, rents fell by around 3 per cent in Gosnells ($330), and the Western Suburbs ($440).
Mr Bourke said that a vacancy rate of 3 per cent was ideal for Perth and provided the right equilibrium between supply and demand.
"The current vacancy rate is therefore about 36 per cent higher than Perth's long term average, but this can change quickly if jobs pick up strongly on the back of a resurgent resources sector," Mr Bourke said.
In March 2007 the Perth vacancy rate plunged to just 0.8 per cent.
