Rental rates rose over a seasonally strong first quarter, but at a slower pace than in 2017, according to CoreLogic’s Quarterly Rental Review for the March quarter.
The report measures the percentage change in rental prices over a quarterly basis. The first quarter of the year is typically the strongest for rental appreciation and growth—and this year was no exception.
Nationally, rents climbed by 0.3% in March and were 1.1% higher over the first quarter of 2018 and 2.2% higher over the 12 months to March 2018. In comparison to the first three months of 2017, when rents rose by 1.5%, growth in rental prices has slowed by -0.4%.
Rental growth over the March quarter was higher in the regional markets (+1.2%) than in the capital cities (+1%). This trend is also reflected in activity over the past 12 months, with rents up by 3.1% in the regions compared to an increase of 1.9% across the capitals.
“The data suggests that in most capital cities the rental market has softened, although values are still rising, they are doing so at a slower rate than they have over recent first quarters of the year,” said Cameron Kusher, research analyst at CoreLogic.
“From an investor’s perspective, large new housing supply additions and slowing rental growth means that they will need to find ways to differentiate their properties from others. Whether that is on rental cost or by renovation, we would expect that competition for tenants in most capital cities will increase.”
Over the March quarter, rents climbed in all capitals with the exception of Darwin (-0.3%) The highest quarterly rental increases were in Hobart (+5%), which also reported its strongest first quarter growth on record, and Canberra (+2.3%).
The national median rent is $427 ($426 for houses and $430 for units). Across the capitals, the median rental is $459 per week. The median house rental in the capitals is $460, compared to $453 for units. Across the regional markets, both houses and units averaged $355 per week.
