Perth vacancies tighten to 2.3% but no rental crisis looming: REIWA

Perth vacancies tighten to 2.3% but no rental crisis looming: REIWA
Larry SchlesingerDecember 8, 2020

The Perth vacancy rate tightened from 2.8% in December 2011 to 2.3% in January with median house rents rising from $400 to $420, according to preliminary data from the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA). 

Median rents for Perth units remain unchanged at $380 per week. 

Despite this tightening, REIWA president David Airey says any talk of a rental crisis in Perth is exaggerated. 

“The percentage of metropolitan rental properties available for lease was unchanged over the three-month period as a whole but did fluctuate a little for each calendar month. 

“We did see the vacancy rate in December lift a bit to 2.8%, but this has subsequently fallen to 2.3% for the month of January. 

Airey says it is possible the vacancy rate might tighten further during this quarter, “but the situation is nothing like the March quarter of 2007, which saw the vacancy rate plummet to just 0.8%. 

“The more notable feature is an 18% fall in the number of properties available for lease from 2,800 at the end of December to 2,300 in mid-February,” he says. 

Across the state, the vacancy rate for the three months to January stands at 2.5%, unchanged from the revised December 2011 quarterly rate, according to preliminary data.

Larry Schlesinger

Larry Schlesinger was a property writer at Property Observer

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