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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
Renters are flooding the Perth property market, sending available rental stock plummeting by 20 per cent in the three months to September 30, the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) has reported.
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REIWA President David Airey said that preliminary data showed that people were choosing to rent rather than buy.
“Clearly with house sales in Perth only rising by just one per cent for the September quarter and sales of units, apartments, villas and townhouses falling by seven per cent, households are looking to rent rather than buy in these uncertain times.”
The data showed the preliminary vacancy rate had fallen by 0.6 of a per cent, down from 3.4 per cent in the June quarter to 2.8 per cent in the September quarter.
Even with additional housing stock flowing into the rental market, REIWA said the strength of demand has seen properties available for lease fall by 20 per cent, from 3,600 at the end of June to 2,800 at the end of September.
“Accompanying this tightening of the vacancy rate has been a $15 per week, or four per cent, lift in the overall median rent for Perth during the September quarter,” Mr Airey said.
Mr Airey said this has been the first mid-year rent rise since 2008 and takes the annual increase to 6.8 per cent.
“Surprisingly however, the rent increase was not uniform across the metropolitan area,” Mr Airey said.
The City of Melville recorded an eight per cent overall increase to $435 per week due to strong multi-residential leases.
Other sub-markets where the overall increase exceeded the overall market increase of four per cent were City of Cockburn (up five per cent to $400) and City of Vincent/SE City of Stirling (up five per cent to $405).
At the same time there was no increase in the overall rent in Cities of Swan, Rockingham-Kwinana, Belmont, Canning or the southern areas of City of Joondalup.
Mr Airey said this might be attributed to the mix of property being leased.“Both the overall median house and multi-residential rents increased by $10 per week for the quarter taking the median house rent to $400 per week and the median unit rent to $380 per week,” Mr Airey said.
