Brisbane rentals are filling up fast as fed-up southerners flee Sydney for the sunshine state, new data shows.
While the nation’s biggest property market becomes littered with empty homes and desperate landlords slash rents to try to hold on to tenants, the Queensland capital’s rental vacancy rate is shrinking as rising demand eats up surplus stock.
The latest figures from property valuation firm SQM Research reveal rental vacancies in Brisbane fell to 2.9 per cent in July — down from 3 per cent in June — marking the fifth straight monthly decline this year.
An estimated 9,886 residential rentals are sitting vacant in Brisbane, compared with nearly 20,000 in Sydney.
Despite vacancy rates tightening, rents in Brisbane are holding firm, with surplus stock being absorbed by rising demand, easing concerns about the inner city’s apartment oversupply.
The asking rent for a house in Queensland rose 0.1 per cent in July to $452 a week, while unit rents held steady at $370 a week.
Sydney’s vacancy rate is now the highest in 13 years, with 2.8 per cent of the city’s units and houses unoccupied, yet the asking rent for a three-bedroom house in the city is still the highest in the country at $707 a week.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said the data showed many residents were leaving Sydney and heading north in search of more affordable housing and a better standard of living.
Source: realestate.com.au
