Australian rents have almost doubled in the past year
The lack of housing supply and higher interest rates continue to put pressure on a tight rental market
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Rents have risen more than 90 percent across Australia and almost two thirds of unit suburbs recorded an annual increase of at least 10 percent, new data has shown.
In news that will be no surprise to many tenants, the CoreLogic Mapping the Market report revealed that rents in Adelaide and Perth increased by 100 percent for both houses and units, while in Brisbane, rents for units also doubled, with house rents close behind recording a 99.6 percent rise. The cost of renting in Darwin also rose considerably for those living in units, up 100 percent on the previous 12 months. Those renting houses in the Northern Territory’s capital fared slightly better, with their rents increasing on average by 71.4 percent.
It was a predictable story in the eastern states where rents in the two biggest capitals have jumped over the past year. In Melbourne, the cost of renting went up 98.1 percent for houses and 99.1 percent for units. The news was not much better for renters in Sydney where rents shot up by 91.9 percent for houses.
Despite consistently strong growth in house values in recent years, Canberra recorded the lowest annual rent rise for houses at just 2.5 percent while the cost of renting a unit increased by 56.1 percent on average. CoreLogic data shows rents fell in 18 unit markets in Canberra over the past year.
Regional areas also experienced rental hikes over the past year, with the cost of renting housing doubling in Western Australia.
CoreLogic Economist Kaytlin Ezzy said the lack of housing supply and interest rate rises were the main drivers for the increases.
“Investors tend to shy away from the housing market during negative economic shocks. The sharp rise in interest rates has coincided with a -23.6 percent fall in new housing investment lending between April 2022 and May this year, and this includes a slight recovery in investment lending in recent months, which has lifted 10 percent from a low in February this year,” she said.
“On the demand side, record levels of overseas migrants, many of whom rent in inner-city unit precincts, has bolstered rental demand this year, causing an imbalance between rental demand and supply.
“For Perth in particular, there is a persistent shortage of rentals, with total rent listings now about – 50 percent lower than the historic five-year average.”
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Excluding the Covid-19 pandemic period, annual growth was the lowest since 1992
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Australia’s commodity-rich economy recorded its weakest growth momentum since the early 1990s in the second quarter, as consumers and businesses continued to feel the impact of high interest rates, with little expectation of a reprieve from the Reserve Bank of Australia in the near term.
The economy grew 0.2% in the second quarter from the first, with annual growth running at 1.0%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. The results were in line with market expectations.
It was the 11th consecutive quarter of growth, although the economy slowed sharply over the year to June 30, the ABS said.
Excluding the Covid-19 pandemic period, annual growth was the lowest since 1992, the year that included a gradual recovery from a recession in 1991.
The economy remained in a deep per capita recession, with gross domestic product per capita falling 0.4% from the previous quarter, a sixth consecutive quarterly fall, the ABS said.
A big area of weakness in the economy was household spending, which fell 0.2% from the first quarter, detracting 0.1 percentage point from GDP growth.
On a yearly basis, consumption growth came in at just 0.5% in the second quarter, well below the 1.1% figure the RBA had expected, and was broad-based.
The soft growth report comes as the RBA continues to warn that inflation remains stubbornly high, ruling out near-term interest-rate cuts.
RBA Gov. Michele Bullock said last month that near-term rate cuts aren’t being considered.
Money markets have priced in a cut at the end of this year, while most economists expect that the RBA will stand pat until early 2025.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned this week that high interest rates are “smashing the economy.”
Still, with income tax cuts delivered at the start of July, there are some expectations that consumers will be in a better position to spend in the third quarter, reviving the economy to some degree.
“Output has now grown at 0.2% for three consecutive quarters now. That leaves little doubt that the economy is growing well below potential,” said Abhijit Surya, economist at Capital Economics.
“But if activity does continue to disappoint, the RBA could well cut interest rates sooner,” Surya added.
Government spending rose 1.4% over the quarter, due in part to strength in social-benefits programs for health services, the ABS said.
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