Growth in new rental listings November 2021 No relief yet for regional renters

The situation, however, is different in regional markets, where new listings remained substantially down from pre-pandemic levels.

Rental markets across capital cities started to welcome new listings, providing relief for tenants who were left with limited options over the past months due to lockdowns.

According to REA Group, the number of new rental listings on realestate.com.au surged by 17.3% in November to reach the highest level since March 2021.

All cities reported substantial gains in rental listings, with Canberra posting the biggest monthly growth at 49.6%, followed by Darwin’s 35.9%, and Hobart’s 27%.

Both Sydney and Melbourne also ended the month with higher listings from the previous month as activity rebounds following the lockdown.

Growth in new rental listings

November 2021

Capital City

Growth (%)

Sydney

15.2

Melbourne

21.8

Brisbane

15.5

Adelaide

12.9

Perth

11.9

Hobart

27.0

Darwin

35.9

Canberra

49.6

NATIONAL

17.8

REA Group economist Angus Moore said these new listings come as a relief for renters after months of low listings.

“Listings have been low for much of this year – and particularly so during lockdowns when few people were moving house, meaning few rentals were hitting the market,” Mr Moore said.

Mr Moore said while November is a typically active month in the rental market, the emergence of Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra from lockdowns was also able to provide a significant boost to the outlook of landlords and tenants.

“The rental market is quite seasonal – a lot of activity is concentrated in January, but November is also typically one of the more active months in most capital cities.”

However, data from SQM Research showed that vacancy rates remained tight across capital cities, with five of the eight cities now having a vacancy level of below 1%.

No relief yet for regional renters

While prospective renters in capital cities are now given more options, the same cannot be said for renters in regional markets.

Mr Moore said no relief is in sight yet for regional renters as new listings remained stuck in the doldrums.

While regional new listings increased by 15.5% in November, they remain down by more than 20% compared to February 2020.

However, Mr Moore believes the recent data showing an uptick in investor interest in regional areas would help ease the rental market pressures.

“If we see more investment in houses in regional areas, this will help boost the stock of available rentals,” he said.

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Photo by @hiveboxx on Unsplash.