Ten Australian suburbs had just one rental property available in December, according to a new report telling a depressingly familiar story about Australia’s rental crisis.
The latest data, compiled by MCG Quantity Surveyors, revealed the lack of rentals was a nationwide trend, with a long list of towns having only a handful of rentals come to market last month.
Ten suburbs had just one rental property available in the whole month of December.
Greater Sydney’s Oyster Bay had just one rental come to market last month, as did the Melbourne suburbs of Upwey and Montrose.
The regional Victorian town of Geelong also had just one property listed.
MCG managing director Mike Mortlock said these numbers came despite the towns having a “substantial” number of private rentals.
“The December data paints a stark picture for the Australian rental market. In areas like Greater Sydney and Regional NSW, we’re seeing a significant crunch in available rentals, putting immense pressure on renters,” he said in the report.
“Regions like Greater Melbourne and Greater Brisbane, which traditionally have robust rental markets, are showing an alarming decrease in rental listings.”
Despite low supply, rents have started to flatten out following a sustained period of steep increases. Although the vacancy rate had eased slightly towards the end of the last year from a record low of 0.9% in October, historic low availability combined with high demand is creating an unfriendly and tumultuous market.
To put that into perspective, a “healthy” vacancy rate is 3.0%, meaning 3% of rentals are available at any given time.
Speaking to PEDESTRIAN.TV earlier this month, economist Angus Moore said factors including unaffordable mortgages and higher immigration meant the rental market was facing an unprecedented squeeze.
“There are just not a lot of available rentals at the moment and the vacancy rate is really low. So there’s a low of upward pressure on rents,” he said.
“There is a silver lining in that it’s not quite as steep as 2022 when it was at its highest, but it is still climbing extremely quick.”
He said that without serious changes to government policy, 2024 looked to be another tough year for renters with relief still a long way off.
How the scarcest areas stack up
- Oyster Bay, NSW – 1 available, 101 total rentals in area
- Geelong, VIC – 1 available, 102 total rentals in area
- Beelerup, WA – 1 available, 103 total rentals in area
- Montrose, VIC – 1 available, 107 total rentals in area
- Iluka, NSW – 1 available, 115 total rentals in area
- Mount Morgan, QLD – 1 available, 131 total rentals in area
- Beaconsfield, VIC 1 available, 138 total rentals in area
- Upwey, VIC – 1 available, 147 total rentals in area
- Whyalla Jenkins, SA – 1 available, 189 total rentals in area
- Frenches Creek, QLD – 1 available, 208 total rentals in area
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