Twin border towns Albury and Wodonga get combined residential rental vacancy index

Vacancy rates in the twin border towns of Albury and Wodonga increased from 1.5% in February to 1.9% in March, according to the REINSW and the REIV.

In January the vacancy rate for the two towns was 3.4%, before tightening in February and then easing slightly in March.

The two real estate institutes are co-operating to produce the figure, which they started reporting last month.

According to RP Data, the Median rent in Albury, $318 per week, is higher than in Wodonga, which has a Median rent of $275. And median house prices in Albury, $388,500, are much higher than in Wodonga, which has a median house price of  $250,000.

In Albury a four-bedroom home on 934 square metres at 801 Delany Street (pictured below) is listed for sale at $345,000. It last traded for $334,000 in 2004, according to RP Data.

And a three-bedroom home on 976 square metres at 15 Klinberg Court is listed for sale at $398,000. In 2006 it was on the market for $397,000 and in 2005 at $453,000 according to RP Data.

A three-bedroom home on 651 square metres at 985 Bralgon Street is listed at $150,000. It currently rents at $180 per week.

And a three-bedroom home on 625 square metres at 25 Kurrajong Crescent was listed at $259,000. It currently rents at $330 per week.

In Wodonga a four-bedroom home on 757 square metres at 10 Inverness Street is listed for sale at $275,000. In 2011 it was listed for sale at $300,000, according to RP Data.

A four-bedroom home on 701 square metres at 385 Lawrence Street is listed for sale at $250,000. In 2007 it was on the market for $214,000.

A two-bedroom house on 370 square metres at 4/12 Emery Court is listed for sale at $209,000. It currently rents for $235 per week.

A three-bedroom house at 2 Clarendon Avenue (pictured below) is listed for sale at $349,000. It is marketed as having a potential rent of $380 per week.

Agent Georgette Nehme says there are solid returns to be had in Albury. She has a number of properties listed with rental returns with rental yields above 6.5%.

Her head of rental James Veneris says the rental market is tighter than it is sluggish.

“Around here you’d find supply tends to equal demand. If anything, demand is a little bit higher. My guess for an average vacancy rate in the town would around 2%,” Veneris says.

Nehme’s firm deals just in properties on the NSW side of the border.

In Wodonga, agent Jamie Maynard from First National says the published vacancy rate sounds about right for the town.

“It would be pretty comparable with us at the moment. We’ve got about 250 rental properties with about 8 available,” Maynard says.

He says most properties give rental yields of 5.5% to 6%, which is bringing in out-of-town investors.

“The majority of sales are from the local market but investor market has jumped considerable due to interest rates being so low and the yield being so terrific.”

He says there are many short-term industry and government workers in the area looking to rent and increasingly people are working in Albury but living in Wodonga.

Prices are lower in Wodonga because there is more vacant land, Maynard says.

There were 6,377 rental homes managed by real estate agents in Albury City and the City of Wodonga in 2011, according the 2011 census. They represented 20% of all homes in the region.

Wodonga, Victoria, accounted for 40% of the rental homes and Albury, NSW, accounted for 60%.

“It is interesting to note the region has a very high proportion of rental homes – 17% – managed by a government housing authority,” REINSW chief executive Tim McKibbin said in March.

The 2011 census found the median weekly household income in Albury, $1,120, was higher than Wodonga, $931.