Decline in house rents largest on record

Darwin recorded the biggest decreases in weekly rents as houses dropped 12.9 per cent over the past 12 months to $505, while units fell 30.0 per cent to $325.

In Perth, house rental fell by 8.7 per cent to $435 per week and units decreased by 7.6 per cent to $393.

Adelaide’s house rental rates fell 0.4 per cent to $372, while units dropped 0.8 per cent to $315.

In Brisbane, houses decreased 0.2 per cent to $435 and units fell 0.8 per cent to $408.

Sydney’s houses saw a dip of 0.3 per cent to $611, while units climbed 2.8 per cent to $550.

In Melbourne, houses rose 1.7 per cent to $466 and units increased 1.4 per cent $410.

Canberra’s houses increased 1.9 per cent to $516 and units rose 2.2 per cent to $411.

Hobart’s house rental jumped 3.6 per cent to $358 and units climbed 14.5 per cent to $342.

Across the capital cities, houses fell 0.9 per cent to $487, while units rose 1.5 per cent to $469

CoreLogic noted that the rental market weakness will persist and rents will continue to fall in the coming months.

“The factors forcing rental rates lower include: the softest wages growth on record, relatively high levels of housing investment following record highs recently, historically high levels of new construction (most of which are units which are more than twice as likely to be rented) and the slowing of population growth which creates less overall demand for housing,” the report said.

“The combination of all these factors means that landlords have little scope to increase rents.”

[Related: Rental yields hit record lows in two capitals]