Published on August 15, 2024
Published by Sanctuary Real Estate
Joe White, REIWA’s President noted that the vacancy rate slightly rose to 0.6 percent in July, indicating a gradual easing of the rental market.
He said, “Perth has seen a sustained period of extremely low vacancy rates, with the vacancy rate sitting consistently below 1% since August 2022.”
“It dropped to a record low of 0.4% in March 2024, before sitting at 0.5% in April, May and June.”
“This month’s figure is a move in the right direction, but it is still very low and vacancies are still filling quickly, particularly for properties in the more affordable price brackets.”
REIWA’s President mentioned that the market had faced unique and challenging conditions for several years, but there are now signs of improvement.
Changes in Housing Demand
“Rent prices are recording periods of stability, dwellings are taking slightly longer to rent and rental listings are increasing,” he said.
It was said that the demand has been self-moderating. There was an increase in the size of tenant households, and people prefer to buy than to rent or choosing to remain their family home to avoid the rental roundabout.
According to White, the market seems to have hit its affordability limit as tenants can no longer keep up with rising rent prices; they are either renting with other people to share the burden of paying rent or choosing to rent smaller house for more affordable properties.
Changes in Housing Supply
“There has been an uptick in the number of estimated rentals, with new supply coming to the market.” Joe White emphasized.
He added, “Investor activity has been increasing over the past 12-18 months and, as well as buying established properties, investors have also been purchasing house and land packages. These new builds are being completed and are starting to come to the market. This is slowly boosting new supply. And there is more in the pipeline.”
Additionally, some tenants have completed their new homes and are moving out of their rentals, freeing up some of the existing supply.
Source: REIWA
See Market Statistics on www.reiwa.com
