National Rental Market Update

While our property markets have boomed over the last few months with the the strongest rebound in property values fir decades, the rental property market has been more subdued.

Rental property website Rent.com.au has released its report for November 2019 and here are the highlights:

• Sydney house median rents fell for the first time in over a year in November, dropping to $595/week from $600/week.
• Brisbane apartment rents have been unchanged for six months running at $400/week, but the Queensland capital’s house rents showed some movement, rising once again in November.
• Adelaide apartment median rents have been on the up since May 2019 and rose again in November, up 3.2% to $320/week.
• The most noticeable shift month-on-month was in Canberraapartments, which came off market 30% faster in November, taking 15 days on average to move.

Median rent (apartments vs houses) and price per room

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Metro area	Apartments	% change	Houses	% change	Price per room	% change
Source: Rent.com.au 2019
SYDNEY	$510	0%	$595	-0.80%	$269	0.80%
MELBOURNE	$415	-1.20%	$430	0%	$176	-1.80%
BRISBANE	$400	0%	$440	1.10%	$160	0%
PERTH	$330	0%	$370	-1.30%	$130	1.90%
ADELAIDE	$320	3.20%	$380	0%	$137	0.60%
HOBART	$400	4.60%	$460	2.20%	$183	7.30%
DARWIN	$340	6.30%	$450	-6.30%	$150	0%
CANBERRA	$460	2.20%	$560	1.80%	$212	2.80%
National median	$450	0%	$450	0%	$190	0%

Rental trends in November 2019

Median rents.

In November, Sydney’s house rents inched lower by 0.8% to $595/week – the first month-on-month decline for this property type in over a year.

Despite the fall, Rent.com.au’s latest data shows the New South Wales capital continues to lead the list for unaffordability for both houses and apartments, contended only by Canberra and Hobart, in most cases.

Across the country, national median rents were unchanged for both property types, but some marketing tightening is evident as we move towards the rental market’s busier season, with asking median rents (apartments) up in Darwin (6.3% to $340/week), Hobart (4.6% to $400/week), Adelaide (3.2% to $320/week) and Canberra (2.2% to $460/week).

House rents were also up in Hobart (2.2% to $460/week), Canberra (1.8% to $560/week) and Brisbane (1.1% to $440/week).

Despite the upward movement in these capitals, some relief could be felt for tenants in Sydney searching for houses, with a fall finally recorded in the median rent for houses – down 0.8% to $595/week. The median rent has remained unchanged in the New South Wales capital for more than a year.

The most affordable apartments in November could be found in Adelaide, with asking rents now at $320/week (up 3.2% month-on-month), while Perth house prices were still lowest at $370/week, down 1.3% month-on-month.

Price per room in November 2019

The cost of renting a room in Australia increased year-on-year in November, with a rise in both apartment and house rents nationally.

The national median for apartments in Australia’s metro areas was $275/week in November, up 3.8% from November ‘18, while house room prices rose 4.5% nationally to $153/week.

Across the state and territory capitals, the biggest jump was in Melbourne apartment room prices, a 10% increase year-on-year, with rooms now priced at $275/week.

Five of the country’s capitals recorded an increase in room prices across both property types year-on-year – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart.

Table 2: Price per room (Apartments versus Houses)

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Metro area	Apartments	% change from NOV 2018	Houses	% change from NOV 2018
Source: Rent.com.au 2019
SYDNEY	$325	5%	$200	0.60%
MELBOURNE	$275	10.00%	$150	7%
BRISBANE	$220	-2%	$142	6.60%
PERTH	$200	3%	$123	5.70%
ADELAIDE	$170	9.00%	$133	4%
HOBART	$220	2.30%	$170	6.30%
DARWIN	$165	0.00%	$150	3.40%
CANBERRA	$302	-4.30%	$183	5.80%
National median	$275	4%	$153	5%

Regional rents.

Median rents across Australia’s regional areas remained relatively stable in November – just as it did in October – with no change in the median rent of $380 nationally.

South Australia recorded the cheapest regional rent prices by far, with a median rent stable at just $280/week.

Regional rents were most expensive in the Northern Territory at $460/week, up 4.5% from October.

Table 3: Regional rents in November 2019

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State/Territory	Nov-19	% change from Oct ‘19
Source: Rent.com.au 2019
NSW	$400	0%
VIC	$320	-1.50%
QLD	$380	-1%
WA	$340	0%
SA	$280	0.00%
TAS	$320	3.20%
NT	$460	4.50%
ACT	n/a	n/a
National median	$380	0%

Time on market.

Rent.com.au’s average time on market measure provides context to the movement in asking rents across the country.

The most noticeable shift month-on-month was in Canberra apartments, which came off market 30% faster in November, taking 15 days on average to move.

Melbourne houses, conversely, came off market 3% slower in November, an average of 23 days to lease on Rent.com.au.

Of the five largest state capitals, the most significant change was in Adelaide, where apartments took 20% less time to lease – averaging 16 days on market.

Looking at house rents, the only capital to record a slowdown month-on-month was Darwin.

Properties in the NT capital took 4% longer to shift than in October 2019.

Table 4: Days on market in November 2019

Metro area	APARTMENT days on market NOV 2019	% change from OCT 2019	% change from NOV 2018	HOUSES days on market NOV 2019	% change from OCT 2019	% change from NOV 2018
Source: Rent.com.au 2019
SYDNEY	27 days	4% faster	9% slower	26 days	8% faster	7% slower
MELBOURNE	24 days	6% slower	8% slower	23 days	3% faster	6% slower
BRISBANE	21 days	6% faster	6% faster	21 days	9% faster	5% faster
PERTH	28 days	13% faster	21% faster	26 days	10% faster	10% faster
ADELAIDE	16 days	20% faster	25% faster	19 days	7% faster	7% faster
HOBART	13 days	18% faster	7% slower	14 days	12% faster	6% slower
DARWIN	35 days	13% slower	9% faster	30 days	4% slower	15% faster
CANBERRA	$15	30% faster	2% faster	18 days	19% faster	21% slower

Source: Rent.com.au rental market snapshot

from Property UpdateProperty Update https://propertyupdate.com.au/national-rental-market-update/