Beautiful one day, pricey the next

Renters in Queensland are experiencing the greatest rental pressure in the country, new data shows.

The Rental Pain Index released by content and research provider Suburbtrends shows the Sunshine State has seen the highest average rental increase in 12 months across the country at 16.33 percent.

“The significant increase in rental prices over the past year in Queensland is a clear contributor to the heightened rental pain felt by residents,” said founder of Suburbtrends, Kent Lardner. “Similar trends are observed in South Australia and Western Australia, where rental prices have risen by approximately 15.95 percent and 15.37 percent, respectively.”

The findings are the result of analysis of the top 25 rental results in each state comparing advertised rentals, vacancy rates and average rent increases over a 12 month period. It also examines average rents as a percentage of income.

The report comes on the back of data released by Ray White Real Estate which reveals that unit prices in Brisbane are growing at a faster pace than houses.

Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said unit price growth has kept pace with that of houses, with apartment prices now back to their 2022 peak. She attributed the recent downturn in apartment prices to the lockdown lifestyle of the pandemic.

“Apartment living wasn’t much fun during lockdowns. Living in smaller spaces with restricted movement was difficult and a lot of the best things about urban living were not available,” Ms Conisbee said. 

“Now that things are pretty much back to normal, apartment living is again attractive. Most of us are going back to the office more frequently and all the best things about living in higher density suburbs are back. 

“We have moved quickly from a situation where there were too many apartments to not enough. Demand is exceeding supply, driving up prices and rents.”

Ms Conisbee noted that demand for apartments would continue to outstrip supply as building approvals were at their lowest point in more than a decade while construction costs were at record highs.

She said the future of the Australian residential market was apartment living, which is not reflected in current housing stock around the country.

“Australia has extremely low density relative to other major cities,” Ms Conisbee said. “Sydney is our highest density city but half of all homes are still detached houses. In Hobart, just 15 percent of homes are attached or apartments.”