The share of affordable listed properties for rent has fallen to its lowest level since late 2018.
According to PropTrack, the proportion of total properties listed for less than $400 per week fell to 17.6% — this is significantly lower than the level achieved last year at 32.8%.
Breaking down to property type, the share of houses for rent under $400 per week fell 25.2% to 13.6% while that of units went down from 38.6% to 22.1%.
Share of total rental listings (dwellings) below $400 per week (%) |
||
|
Region |
February 2023 |
February 2022 |
|
Sydney |
7.8 |
19.8 |
|
Melbourne |
20.0 |
43.5 |
|
Brisbane |
13.0 |
28.3 |
|
Adelaide |
18.3 |
37.8 |
|
Perth |
15.4 |
32.0 |
|
Hobart |
12.0 |
20.3 |
|
Darwin |
8.8 |
15.7 |
|
ACT |
1.9 |
6.0 |
|
Rest of New South Wales |
21.9 |
30.3 |
|
Rest of Victoria |
37.9 |
51.5 |
|
Rest of Queensland |
21.3 |
35.4 |
|
Rest of South Australia |
70.2 |
84.0 |
|
Rest of Western Australia |
21.2 |
42.7 |
|
Rest of Tasmania |
34.1 |
49.9 |
|
Rest of Northern Territory |
26.9 |
34.8 |
|
Capital Cities |
14.6 |
31.5 |
|
Regional Areas |
25.9 |
37.8 |
|
National |
17.6 |
32.8 |
Source: PropTrack
Sydney, ACT, and Darwin have the tightest supply of affordable rentals, taking up less than 10% of all the rental stock.
Of all markets, only regional South Australia was able to maintain a high proportion of affordable rental listings of above 50% at 70.2%. The next close one is regional Victoria, where 37.9% of rental listings are under $400.
PropTrack director for economic research Cameron Kusher said regional areas witnessed larger fall in the share of affordable listings throughout the pandemic but over the past year, the declines have been much larger in capital cities as they regain demand.
“Demand for rentals is far outstripping supply, pushing weekly rents higher and the vacancy rate lower — as a result, there has been a significant reduction in rentals available for less than $400 per week since the onset of the pandemic,” he said.
In fact, the share of affordable rental listings under $400 has declined by over half across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, and regional Western Australia.
“We are now starting to see much larger declines in the share of listings under $400 per week in capital cities as opposed to regional areas. Houses are also seeing the share decline faster than units,” Mr Kusher said.
“The fall in the availability of more affordable rentals and the surging competition for rental stock is creating challenges for those on lower incomes or government support payments as they try to source increasingly scarce rental accommodation.”
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Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels
