Six statistical insights into the May 2015 rental market: SQM

Figures released by SQM Research this week have six key findings on the state of residential vacancies across the nation in May 2015.

With a vacancy rate of 2.4% posted based on 71,970 vacancies, the national total was up from 2.3% in April when vacancies were 69,295.

SQM Research head Louis Christopher said there was a continued gradual rise in vacancy rates across the country which meant asking rents in many areas had stalled. 

• Nationally, vacancies rose during May 2015, recording a vacancy rate of 2.4%, up from 2.3% in April, coming to a total of 71,970 vacancies nationally.
• During May, vacancy rates climbed the most in Perth, up from 3.0% in April to a high 3.4%.
• Vacancy rates in Canberra, Sydney and Darwin remained the same from April 2015 to May 2015.
• Darwin recorded the highest vacancy rate of the capital cities at 3.5% in May 2015 based on a total of 992 vacancies.
• Darwin recorded the highest yearly increases in vacancies, climbing by 2.1 percentage points from a year earlier.
• Vacancy rates in Sydney remained tight in May 2015, and are up a modest 0.1 percentage points from this time last year.

SQM’s calculations of vacancies are based on online rental listings that have been advertised for three weeks or more compared to the total number of established rental properties.