Queensland’s rental market easing: REIQ

Jessie RichardsonDecember 7, 2020

According to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ), vacancy rates are up across most of the state as the sales market picks up.

The vacancy rate in the Brisbane City local government area was at 3.2% at the end of December, up from September’s 2.3%, displaying “healthy levels of supply and demand”, according to the REIQ. The highest quarterly increase in the vacancy rate was recorded in inner Brisbane (suburbs within 5 kilometres of the CBD), which climbed 1.7 percentage points to 4.1%.

According to REIQ chairman Rob Honeycombe, new developments in Brisbane’s inner suburbs may have led to a slight oversupply of rental stock, while a decrease in interest from tenants is typical of the final quarter of the year.

“At end of the year we generally experience lower tenant demand as residents vacate for work transfers or the end of the university year. From mid-January, demand increases again as tenants begin their search for their new property,” he said.

The REIQ Residential Rental Survey was conducted in December across all of the state’s REIQ accredited agencies. Across the greater Brisbane area, about 40% of agents surveyed reported that investor activity had increased, but demand from tenants had remained strong, allowing vacancy rates to remain low.

The REIQ survey data shows that regional Queensland’s mining towns are experiencing substantially higher vacancy rates. Gladstone agents surveyed noted a surplus of rental property, with the Gladstone vacancy rate at 7.7% at the end of December. In September 2013, the vacancy rate in Gladstone was recorded as 5.8%, while it sat at 2.1% in December 2012.

Mackay also recorded a vacancy rate of 7.7%, due to a combination of oversupply and job losses. September’s vacancy rate for Mackay was at 5%. REIQ agents reported low application numbers for rental properties, with properties taking more than four weeks to fill.

However, conditions were favourable for landlords in Toowoomba, where a vacancy rate of 1.3% was recorded for December. Vacancy rates were also low in the Gold Coast, with a decrease of 0.4 percentage points since September, and the Sunshine Coast, where vacancy rates were down 0.3 percentage points.

Honeycombe noted that Queensland’s rental market has performed well in recent years, especially in comparison to the sales market.

“Over the past few years, it has been the rental sector which has been the better-performing segment of the market,” Honeycombe said.

“Now while the sales market returns to healthy levels of activity after a period of subdued volumes, the rental market is experiencing a slight easing of vacancy rates after a long period of tight rental conditions.”

jrichardson@propertyobserver.com.au

 


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