The total number of rental vacancies now stands at 37,932 residential properties, a decrease from 39,665 in August 2024. Perth, Canberra, and Hobart plus regional Australia were the main drivers to the decline. While all other capital cities were steady or recorded slight rises.

Sydney’s rental vacancy rate remained stable at 1.6%, now with 11,360 rental dwellings vacant. Melbourne’s vacancy rate increased to 1.7%, with 8,796 vacant dwellings, reflecting a 0.1% rise from August.

Canberra recorded the highest rental vacancy rate among the states and territories at 2.0%, showing a slight decrease from August. Perth saw its vacancy rate decrease to 0.6%, while Darwin’s vacancy rate increased to 1.0%. Adelaide maintained one of the lowest vacancy rates at 0.6%.Hobart’s vacancy rate declined to 0.8%.

Vacancy rates in the CBDs were largely steady. Sydney recorded a 5.0% vacancy rate while Melbourne CBD recorded a slight decrease to 5.1%. Brisbane CBD continued to experience strong demand with a low vacancy rate of 2.4%.

SQM’s calculations of vacancies are based on online rental listings that have been advertised for three weeks or more compared to the total number of established rental properties. SQM considers this to be a superior methodology compared to using a potentially incomplete sample of agency surveys or merely relying on raw online listings advertised. Please go to our Methodology page for more information on how SQM’s vacancies are compiled.

Rents

Over the past month leading up to 12th October 2024, rental prices in capital city asking rents exhibited mixed trends. Total capital city advertised rents rose by 0.5%. Sydney experienced a 0.9% increase in combined rents, reflecting a turnaround from a fall in rents over winter. Conversely, Melbourne recorded a 1.1% decline, indicating a softening in rental demand. Page 2 of 3

In Brisbane, combined rents rose by 1.5%, showcasing a healthy increase. Perth also exhibited growth with a 1.7% rise, marking it as one of the stronger performers. Meanwhile, Adelaide encountered a decrease of 0.2%, signalling a slight downturn in rental prices.

Canberra experienced a significant drop of 3.4% in housing rents, highlighting a notable shift in demand. Hobart’s combined rents increased modestly by 0.3%, continuing a stable trend. In contrast, Darwin faced a substantial decrease of 4.5%, pointing to a marked decline in rental demand.

On a national level including all regions, median advertised rents recorded an increase of 0.8%, suggesting some tightening in rental conditions in regional Australia.

Louis Christopher, Managing Director of SQM Research said: “National rental vacancy rates fell slightly again in September, and we are expecting another fall in October. However, this will mainly be a seasonal change and so, we are not anticipating a reacceleration of rents for now, which have eased in recent month.

However, the national rental market remains in severe shortage and barring some exceptions, is not expected to materially soften out of the rental crisis for some years.

Ongoing strong migration growth, initially forecasted by SQM to materially slow in 2024 towards Federal Budget targets, has not materially slowed. Total population expansion for this current calendar year is now expected to be higher than 500,000 people; and so, this rapid population growth will continue to keep pressure on the rental market.”

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