WA leads nation for rental listings increase: CoreLogic's Cameron Kusher
Western Australia led the rest of the country in rental listings in the past 12 months as listings rose nine per cent during the period, pressuring rental growth in some markets, according to latest data from CoreLogic.
“Western Australia council areas feature heavily on the list of regions that have seen the greatest increase in rental advertisements over the year, many of which are located in Perth,” according to CoreLogic’s head of research Cameron Kusher.
He said that sluggish investor activity in WA may indicate that as the economy has weakened and people have migrated away from WA, home owners may be looking to rent out their home rather than selling into weak market conditions.
A number of NSW regions too figure on the list and this is probably more reflective of the ramping-up of housing supply purchased by investors, he said.
“Rental advertisement counts suggest that the population growth is increasingly being housed via investment housing (rental accommodation) which aligns with the lift in investor housing finance commitments over recent years.”
Over the 12 months to January 2017, houses advertised for rent rose 8.7 per cent to 362,708, while for units the figure was up 9.3 per cent to 287,233 properties.
“The rental market is currently seeing historic low rates of rental growth and with the amount of rental accommodation ramping up it is easy to see why,” said Kusher.
Of the regions with at least 1,000 rental ads during the period, only 17 council areas experienced a decline in ads over the year, with Canberra and Hobart among them.
Despite the housing construction boom in Sydney at the moment, Kogarah, Warringah and Manly have recorded fewer properties advertised this year compared to last year, signalling tighter rental conditions, said Kusher.
He said that with a record number of homes still under construction, mainly units, rental ads would continue to rise and will hurt rental price growth in many suburbs with choices increasing for renters.